Coronavirus Logistics Update 15 (COVID-19)

This is the fifteenth update on how the coronavirus is impacting the transport,logistics and supply chain sectors. In general news the UK, mainly England, is gradually lifting more and more of its restrictions as death rates and new cases continue to fall. Across Europe there are small breakouts of second waves but nothing major, in fact the rate is declining so fast in the UK, some researchers are concerned there may be not enough subjects available to test any potential vaccine on. Up to now over 250 thousand confirmed cases with unfortunately 36000 deaths. Sweden which has had no lock down while initially seaming to be in control, now has the highest death rate per capita, but lower per population than elsewhere in Europe and there is doubts that is declining as effectively as in other countries which did have a lock down. One continent which has had little coverage in the western world is Africa. Despite the world press declaring it was going to be a complete disaster for the region, it has managed to hold its own against the virus despite have considerable less resources but managing to use what they have more effectively. There is even support for a herbal remedy which several leaders are saying helps control the virus. However there is very limited scientific research available to support any claims at the moment however sometimes home made remedies can help show a possible route to usefully manufactured remedy.

Return to the logistics sector. The UK government has announced that all travellers returning to the UK will have to self quarantine for 14days.  Road haulage companies initially thought this would stop all cross movement borders for accompanied trailers, however it has been confirmed that lorry drivers are exempt from the quarantine but will be expected to observe social distance and other coronavirus preventive method such as using PPE including face and glover coverings. The UK RHA has issued a short safety briefing to its members on how to work safely during the coronavirus outbreak, and the areas a Covid 19 risk assessment should cover.

With airfreight capacity issues still in China, forwarders are coming up with various new routings of cargo to try and increase capacity. This includes airfreight to locations which currently have spare capacity and then using seafreight to ship the goods onwards to the UK. Other solutions include using seafreight to get the goods part of the way to such locations as the Middle East then loading onto plane for final shipment into the UK. While not anywhere near as fast as direct airfreight, with the delays at airports for non-essential cargo and the increased cost this option currently is much more viable.

Ocean freight rates from China to Europe have actually begun to rise off their lows due to the shipping line’s efforts to reduce capacity through blank sailings. The continued demand for PPE products along with the normal goods being shipped is creating a rapid increase in freight pricing. Especially with companies looking for alternatives to airfreight as mentioned already. Several of the shipping alliances are now looking to reinstate a few services from the start of June. Currently this is just for the North American market but there may be some additional sailings being reinstated on for the Asia Europe routes. However it is still unlikely at the moment there will be a large peak season this year, with the coronavirus have an impact on the worlds economy and this only now start to show.