Dear Valued Customer,
While countries around the world continue to make efforts to flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections, we are still keeping the logistics and transportation wheels turning. This week has so far not seen major changes compared to last week, however we wish to still give you an overview of the current situation enabling you to plan accordingly and stay updated.
Companies around the globe are increasingly starting to cancel orders due to increased uncertainty on when the general society will return to “normal” making it very difficult to project future demand. As a result of the near global lockdown we are also starting to see the first indications of congestion at both ports, warehouses and storage yards due to the simple fact that many customers are unable to take delivery of incoming shipments.
It is though very much still possible to move shipments via air, ocean, rail and road, however across all transport modes delays and schedule disruptions are to be expected as well as a volatile rate development, with supply and demand continuing to be very unstable.
Lockdown situation in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Sub-Continent and US remains very much the same, but with an increasing impact on total volume flows as a result of many factories and DC´s not being open for operation. Logistics and transportation is still considered critical infrastructure across all countries therefore ports, airports, rail stations etc. are officially open for business However it is getting more difficult to arrange services as trucking, customs etc. in some countries due to many people are sent home as part of the local lockdown restrictions.
New solutions emerge during COVID-19
Overall, all transport modes are as mentioned functioning and find ways of keeping shipments moving, however each transport mode has its own set of challenges.
Airfreight is still lacking capacity especially on Asia-Europe and Europe to US due to belly cargo capacity on commercial flights having been removed. For the same reason rates are still flying high and in addition emergency and medical supplies are prioritized ahead of general cargo. We do have solutions in place to caretake for existing general cargo demands and amongst other sea/air solutions as well as alternative routings are used frequently by our airfreight teams these days.
The biggest challenge on ocean freight remains blank sailings which is rapidly increasing day by day. Some projections show that more than 50 % of the total capacity has been removed on major trades such as Asia-Europe, Europe-Asia and Europe to US. Subsequently schedule reliability can be expected to deteriorate further even after reaching a low point in March with around 65 % on time reliability.
Additionally equipment shortage remains a major issue with normal container repositioning not functioning as intended due to the many blank sailings. There is no outlook that this will improve in the months to come, and for the same reason we urge for even further focus on forecasting of both space and equipment well in advance of actual bookings being placed.
Rail freight remains a strong alternative to Europe from Asia, as well as it is also an option on export to Asia from Europe.
Road freight in Europe is overall operating in a stable mode. In southern Europe local challenges may occur, due to quarantine regulations and some border crossing experiencing congestion leading to significant waiting time.
For further details on specifics countries and mode of transport, see our overview here.
All information in this advisory is offered to the best of our knowledge and is prone to change.
Yours sincerely,
Simone Gatti
founder CEO
#sanmarinoresiste
#andratuttobene
MISURE URGENTI DI CONTENIMENTO DA COVID 19
Come previsto dai decreti in vigore e dalle circolari esplicative in particolare dell'Ufficio Attività Economiche prego prendere nota:
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- Come richiesto abbiamo ridotto la presenza dei dipendenti in ufficio ricorrendo allo Smart Working dove possibile.
- GLI INGRESSI PRESSO IL NOSTRO UFFICIO E PRESSO IL MAGAZZINO NON SONO ACCESSIBILI DA NESSUN VISITATORE
- DIAMO PRECEDENZA A TUTTE LE OPERAZIONI A CARATTERE DI URGENZA E NEL POSSIBILE DELLA NOSTRA ORGANIZZAZIONE - NEL RISPETTO DEL DECRETO ABBIAMO RIDOTTO IL PERSONALE E QUINDI ANCHE I SERVIZI SVOLTI AL FINE DI RISPETTARE LE MISURE PER IL CONTENIMENTO SONO LIMITATI ALL'ORGANIZZAZIONE AL MOMENTO DISPONIBILE, CI SCUSIAMO QUINDI PER RITARDI NELL'ESECUZIONE DEI SERVIZI MA SIAMO CERTI CHE CAPIRETE LA SITUAZIONE DIFFICILE CHE TUTTI SIAMO CHIAMATI AD AFFRONTARE.
World Line - Shipping & forwarding agent