13 Mar 2020
Limited air freight capacity
From Friday, March 13th onwards, travel to the US will be banned for Europeans, for at least 30 days. President Trump is taking this measure in an effort to call a halt to the spread of the Corona virus in the US.
Passenger planes tend to carry cargo as well. Now that these flights are grounded for the time being, air freight capacity to and from the USA will be greatly reduced. There will still be cargo only flights, but in a limited number. This reduced capacity will also drive the prices up.
The European Commission has decided that the rule that states airlines need to complete at least 80% of their scheduled flights to retain the right to operate, is temporarily suspended. Some airlines were performing empty flights for this rule, and expectations are that will now stop.
This ruling is expected to have a serious impact on the available capacity.
Italy
Transport options to and from Italy are currently very limited. There are still rail transports, but in a very limited number.
China
Business in China has been mostly restored, but there is a great backlog that needs to be cleared up. Capacity is very low and this is putting great pressure on the rates.
Should you have very urgent shipments, it may pay to consider a sea/air option. Your cargo would be shipped by sea from a Chinese port to, for example, Singapore, Busan or Dubai, then flown to Europe from there.
Ocean Freight
As stated in previous news items, there is still a serious shortage of both spaces as well as equipment. Not just for Asian trade lanes, but worldwide.
We urge you again to plan your shipments as early on as you can so that we can find you an appropriate solution.
Also, should your warehouse have special opening times or special instructions for pick-up and delivery of goods, please let us know, so we can arrange things with our hauliers to accommodate you.