Typhoon Saudel, the 18th named storm of the 2026 Pacific season, is closing in on the East China coast, prompting port authorities in Ningbo and Shanghai to raise emergency response levels and begin winding down selected operations ahead of an expected landfall in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces on 27–28 August.
China's National Meteorological Centre has upgraded its national typhoon warning from yellow to orange — the second-highest on its four-tier scale — after Saudel pushed into the East China Sea early Wednesday. Forecasters expect the system to come ashore along the coast between eastern Zhejiang and southeast Fujian late Thursday into Friday.
The China Meteorological Administration's 96-hour track (issued 06:00, 26 Aug) rated Saudel a strong typhoon, with peak sustained winds near 151 km/h (Force 14), easing toward 126–151 km/h at landfall before weakening to a severe tropical storm and then a tropical depression as it moves inland through 30 August.
As of 14:00 on 26 August, local authorities had adjusted their typhoon emergency response levels to level II for Ningbo and level IV for Shanghai.
Port and terminal status
According to a customer advisory issued by Kuehne+Nagel China, the operational picture across East China as of Wednesday afternoon was as follows:
Ports and terminals
- Ningbo Port terminals: Empty container operations suspended from 16:00 on 26 Aug; all operations suspended from 20:00 on 26 Aug.
- Shanghai (Yangshan): Fully operational.
- Shanghai (Waigaoqiao): Fully operational.
Container yards, trucking and warehouses
- Container yards in both Ningbo and Shanghai: fully operational.
- East China trucking service: fully operational.
- Warehouses in Ningbo and Shanghai: fully operational.
Barge terminals
Several inland and coastal barge terminals had already halted operations ahead of the storm, while the wider network remained open:
- Taizhou: Suspended from 10:00, 26 Aug
- Wenzhou (Zhuangyuan'ao): Suspended from 22:00, 25 Aug
- Jiaxing (Zhapu & Dushan), Zhenjiang, Taicang, Nanjing, Nantong, Changzhou: Fully operational
Guidance to shippers
Operators and cargo owners are urged to monitor conditions closely and take precautions based on the typhoon's development, the actual condition of their containers and cargo, and any requirements issued by ports and terminals.
Where operationally feasible, shippers may wish to advance container pick-up and gate-out, or postpone deliveries into terminals, depending on local conditions.
Saudel had already swept past Japan's Okinawa and Amami islands, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes, and triggered flight cancellations in Taiwan and Hong Kong before reaching the mainland approaches. The storm is one of several active systems tracked by Chinese forecasters this week, following the recent landfall of Typhoon Gaenari in Fujian.
Kuehne+Nagel China said it is continuing to monitor weather updates, typhoon warnings and port-prevention notices, and will issue further advisories as the situation develops.
