Two typhoons that struck East China over the past week have led to port closures, delaying ships loaded with petrochemicals, as the region braced for a third typhoon expected to make landfall as early as Tuesday evening, market participants said Tuesday.

Typhoon Haikui was expected to make landfall in Zhejiang province, just south of Shanghai, either late Tuesday or early Wednesday, the China Meteorological Administration has said.

Apart from Zhejiang province, heavy rains are also expected to fall in Jiangsu province, the NMC said.

According to news reports, Zhejiang has called more than 30,000 ships back to port as a precaution.

A Japanese trader estimated that about 6,000-8,000 mt of ethylene shipments to China have been delayed by the typhoons.

Other affected shipments included propylene, purified terephthalic acid, xylenes and monoethylene glycol, a trader said.

Vessels operated by Ningbo Chemical have not been allowed to berth at Ningbo port since Monday due to Typhoon Haikui, a shipbroker said. The port is expected to be open Thursday morning.

Ningbo port's south and north channels were closed Tuesday morning, the shipbroker said.

The south and north channels at Jiangyin port were shut at the same time as Ningbo's, the shipbroker said, adding that delays of one to three days are expected.

The first two typhoons, Saola and Damrey, hit China's coastline on August 3. Typhoon Saola left 14 dead in the central province of Hubei while nine people were killed in the northeastern province of Liaoning after Typhoon Damrey struck, the Xinhua news agency said.