Fog stops shipping in Yangtze River mouth
7/11/2008 16:35
Persistent fog has affected more than 200 ships since it descended on the
mouth of the Yangtze River in Shanghai yesterday, port authorities said.
The
misty weather has reduced average visibility to less than 1,000 meters since
midday yesterday and in some areas, visibility is below 200 meters, said
officials at Waigaoqiao checkpoint.
Waigaoqiao is Shanghai's free trade zone
and has one of the city's leading ocean shipping ports.
In the 26 hours from
8 am yesterday to 10 am today, 130 incoming vessels canceled or postponed their
port calls to Shanghai, and about 80 outgoing ships were fog-bound at Shanghai
port, the officials said.
The Shanghai meteorological station warned of the
first heavy fog of this autumn on Tuesday. "The fog, plus yesterday's rain, has
also stopped the ferry services and closed several inter-provincial
expressways," said chief meteorologist Man Liping today.
She said the weather
was expected to clear tomorrow, when wind would hopefully dispel the rain and
fog, but the temperature would fall by an average 5 to 7 degrees Celsius to
around 10 degrees.
Today marks the "beginning of winter" in the Chinese lunar
calendar and most parts of the country are expecting significant temperature
drops.
Xinhua
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