Hmmm. That's an 11% drop wow for carrier arrivals into 45 Chinese ports, with pre holiday port discharge rates still high. Looks to me that exporters are currently playing the value over volume card. And why not? It will keep the IO price over US $120.00.

China’s iron ore port stocks hover at 115 mln t

in Dry Bulk Market,Port News 21/09/2020

Imported iron ore inventories at China’s 45 major ports remained largely stable at 114.9 million tonnes as of September 17, up marginally by 363,600 tonnes or 0.3% on week, as the higher daily discharge volume offset the growing unloading volume with the ease in congestion, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey.

Over September 11-17, the number of vessels queuing at the 45 sampled ports for Customs clearance and unloading declined substantially by another 23 on week to 142, according to the data.
Source: Mysteel