Drizzle helped clear lingering fog in the Waigaoqiao Port area yesterday morning, and stranded ships took the chance to head out of the port, according to the Waigaoqiao immigration police.

Thirty-seven ships were stranded in Waigaoqiao over the past two days. The port police said most of the stranded vessels had been stuck in the port since heavy fog enveloped the area on Saturday evening.

A ship from the Republic of Korean?"Hanjin San Francisco" that had been delayed 18 hours, finally made its way back to the ROK at 7am.

Other stranded ships wasted no time. They poured out of the mouth of Yangtze River when visibility started to improve early yesterday, said immigration police.

Xing Dafeng, from the Wusong Port maritime safety administration, said more than 80 ships had been stranded and delayed in Shanghai ports since the weekend.

The fog also caused three flights to be diverted from Pudong International Airport to Hongqiao Airport on Monday.

(Shanghai Daily February 4, 2009)