Shipping Moves Out of the Way as Typhoon Dolphin Nears China

Typhoon Dolphin passed Okinawa on Friday morning, heading for the center of China's coastline and forcing marine traffic to move out of the way. Several of China's biggest ports have already begun a temporary closure in preparation for the storm's arrival, shipping sources told Bloomberg. 

As of Friday, Dolpin had sustained winds of about 70 knots – half the strength of  its force earlier in the week, when it was spinning up as a super typhoon – and was moving towards Zhejiang province at about 12 knots. In advance of its arrival in Okinawa, the local government issued evacuation orders covering about 260,000 people, and the abundance of U.S. military installations on the island made preparations to weather the storm in place. Okinawa's airport shut down, and about 500 flights were canceled. 

Typhoon #Dolphin has become only the 20th tropical cyclone to accumulate more than 50 Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) units in the Western Pacific (WPAC) basin since records began in 1950. ??As of 06Z (2 PM, Manila time) August 6, 2026:JMA: 150 km/h; 950 hPa [10-min]… pic.twitter.com/hYA6q8VeVk

The high winds are a risk for port operations, and closures have been implemented at Zhoushan, Ningbo and the Changjiankou area – all part of the Shanghai / Hangzhou Bay mega-complex of industrial centers and seaports, the busiest region for containerized freight traffic in the world. Further south, along the coast of Zhejiang, authorities have ordered a halt to offshore construction work and the dispersal of hundreds of working vessels to safe locations, according to The Independent. Outlying islands with greater storm risks have been evacuated. 

The storm is expected to make landfall late Sunday near Wenzhou, a city of 10 million people in Zhejiang province. Wenzhou was also in the path of Typhoon Bavi in mid-July, but the storm was relatively mild at landfall, and little impact was reported save for heavy rainfall.