The PPE crisis taught – the hard way – both governments and logistics providers as sourcing, pricing and distribution caught everyone offguard.
But those lessons appear to have been learned: companies and governments are now looking at potential arrangements for vaccines, if and when they appear.
The different types of vaccine will require differing temperature, storage and transport requirements – exacerbating planning problems.
Projected timelines for distribution also vary widely. Some, under Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA), are due in some form as early as this month. Russia’s candidate – Sputnik V – will be ready, claim its authorities, for mass use in October, an “unprecedented” timeline, says DHL.
The supply chain disruption caused by Covid-19 has reinforced the role of container hub ports according to a senior executive from terminal operator PSA International.
Wan Chee Foong, regional ceo of Middle East South Asia & head of business development, PSA International said, “During this period the supply and demand shocks that occurred have certainly been disruptive but there is a silver lining it has reinforced the role of the hub ports that have in general fared better than the gateway ports.
“Just like the hub and spokes of a bicycle wheel hub ports have been especially critical in keeping global trade and supply chains connected during this pandemic. Regional hubs such as Singapore have indeed stepped up as key nodes in the supply chain during the pandemic going beyond just providing connectivity to enhancing connectedness in the supply chain
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) may see capital spending this fiscal reduce by close to one-fifth after COVID-19 related restrictions delayed projects, its director-finance Subhash Kumar said. ONGC, India’s top oil and gas producer, had budgeted Rs 32,501 crore of capital expenditure for the fiscal to March 2021
But the actual spending may be around Rs 26,500 crore as project implementations got impacted due to COVID-19 restrictions disrupting supply chain and movement of labour, he said at post-first-quarter earnings call with investors.
According to Samantha Naidoo, Logistics Industry Value Advisor at SAP Africa, the logistics industry’s response to the pandemic will greatly influence how well other sectors of the economy are able to adapt to our new reality. “The sector forms the backbone of global trade and is fundamental to the effective running of most other sectors.
Any disruption in the sector has ripple effects on the performance of other sectors.
The impact of Covid-19 on the logistics industry was first observed in China. According to the International Finance Corporation, disruptions to China’s manufacturing industry created ripples across global supply chains. With backlogs at the country’s ports, travel restrictions affecting local transport mechanisms, and many cargo ships prevented from vessel berthing and unloading of goods from vessels coming from different countries, global industries suddenly experienced a shortage in commodities and goods.
There’s little doubt that the Covid-19 crisis has had an unprecedented impact on supply chains all over the world.
However, with many countries lifting lockdown and tentative steps being taken to resume business in many sectors, the dust is beginning to settle on what the “new normal” is for supply chains.
Trade Ministers from Australia, India and Japan, in a trilateral meeting on Tuesday, decided to work on a new initiative for regional cooperation on supply chain resilience in the Indo-Pacific region in light of the Covid-19 crisis and the recent global-scale changes in the economic and technological landscape.
Even as the government has announced some relief in the lockdown, inland logistics companies’ volume is likely to fall 10-15 per cent in the financial year 2020-21 as the consumption demand could take a longer time for recovery, according to India Ratings.
According to the agency, operational recovery for logistics players will be gradual and prolonged over 2020-21, as against a sharp V-shaped recovery.
The industries that shepherd goods around the world on ships, planes and trucks acknowledge they aren’t ready to handle the epic challenges of shipping an eventual Covid-19 vaccine from drugmakers to billions of people.
Already stretched thin by the pandemic, freight companies face problems ranging from shrinking capacity on container ships and cargo aircraft to a lack of visibility on when a vaccine will arrive. Shippers have struggled for years to reduce cumbersome paperwork and upgrade old technology that, unless addressed soon, will slow the relay race to transport fragile vials of medicine in unprecedented quantities.
Amid a global pandemic, there has arguably never been a better time to make the movement of air cargo more efficient and easier to monitor. Switching to blockchain could help make this achievable, creating crucial cost savings for stakeholders in the bargain.
According to figures released by International Air Transport Association (IATA), demand within the global air freight markets in April suffered a drop of 27.7% compared to the same period in 2019 – the sharpest year-on-year decline on record.
This has been coupled by a significant capacity crunch across the air cargo sector, with capacity down by 42% as a result of many airlines being grounded during the crisis. The result of this perfect storm has been lengthier shipping times and higher costs all round.
The island of Jersey has a new tool in its covid-19 testing toolbox: a shipping container in which 2000 real time polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) tests can be processed every 24 hours. It was delivered to a car park behind Jersey’s only airport in July.
Jersey, 14 miles off the French coast, is a British crown dependency and self-governing member of the Channel Islands. To date, covid-19 diagnostic tests on the island have been processed using a mix of local facilities and laboratories in the UK; PCR capacity is currently limited to 500 per day,1 although the acquisition of more machines will help to expand this by September.Two flights every day deliver swab samples to England for testing at a laboratory in Coventry, with results usually available within 24 hours.
“Digitization, automation, and robotics are expected to transform the value chain with digital platform-based freight solutions, logistics process automation, and last-mile delivery solutions,” said Senthil Kumar Subbiah, Supply Chain & Logistics Practice Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
The integration of computing devices enables interoperability by linking people, processes, and data without any physical movement. Reducing human intervention at various steps of the supply chain can be a game-changer during a pandemic or similar crisis
In the world of logistics, getting ready for peak shipping season for air and ocean freight usually means researching, understanding and following historical demand patterns. But this year, uncertainty from COVID-19 is changing everything.
As one would expect, air and ocean services must adjust to higher demand during the peak shipping season. However, many sectors are experiencing unusual changes to typical supply and demand trends.
Some industries, such as healthcare and paper products, have seen higher demand than normal even in their busiest times of the year. Others, such as foodservice and retail, are struggling to survive amid lockdowns and social-distancing requirements.
COVID-19 pandemic has caused direct or indirect effects on every industry. Many grappled their way through the lockdown and unlocking phases. Perhaps, the case before and post-COVID-19 has declared a pandemic was different globally. Logistic enterprises impacting movement, storage and flow of goods have been directly impacted by the pandemic. As a critical part of supply chain, disruptions in operations will impact competitiveness, economic growth and job creation alongside facilitating trade and commerce.
Thirty per cent of the product cost is held by the last mile hence optimizing it is necessary. Deliveries have become safe for agents and customers by creating contactless last-mile delivery arrangements post lockdown phases.
The impact of COVID-19 has been swift and devastating to those directly affected. Not just from a health perspective but also for businesses who had to promptly close their doors as the country went into lockdown, particularly those in hospitality and retail.
And as we now slowly emerge from these more stringent controls the indirect consequences of the pandemic on global systems and networks, specifically global supply chains are also being felt.
The spread of COVID-19 has affected operations globally in ways that are difficult to model and assess. Many of the affected countries are at the heart of global supply chains and as a result have witnessed depleting (or idling) stock; the net result is that many organisations have simply not been able to meet their contractual obligations on time.
The COVID 19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the shipping industry. Hundreds of container ships have found their trades cancelled due to a fall in demand for the products carried on board, cruise liners have seen their business evaporate as potential customers are now reluctant to travel, and a shortage of inland oil storage capacity has meant that crude and product tankers are increasingly being used as floating storage.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) data for global air freight markets shows that this was a weaker performance than the 7.3 percent fall in demand in May.
IATA said the decline was attributed to the risk of increased spread of the coronavirus on the continent especially in the month of June, causing economic shocks to the lower and middle incomes countries
The strategy of matching capacity to weak demand as COVID-19 measures locked down major markets has been wildly successful for ocean carriers, lifting financial performance across the board.
Even carriers that have been struggling for years to find profitability have managed to brush off falling revenue and turn in dramatic improvements in first-half 2020 earnings. HMM, for instance, a long-time loss maker, ended the first half with a loss of $31 million, but that was still a 90 percent improvement year over year despite a 22 percent drop in volume in the first six months.
Fourteen more port workers at the Subic Bay Freeport have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) confirmed.
The outbreak at the Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation (SBITC) was detected last week when the first 15 workers were stricken with the virus
Every employee at the container terminal was immediately tested, including 238 shift workers, port users, security personnel, canteen staff, and even SBMA checkers.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of diversification and resilience of supply chains as well as the relevance of the concept of strategic autonomy, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday.
The pandemic also underscored the need for broader rebalancing and a more equitable world view, which for India means the urgent need to strengthen national capacities through the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) initiative, he told a roundtable of the ASEAN
In a statement, the Railways said that just on August 19 this year, the freight loading was 3.11 million tonnes and the earning was Rs 306.1 crore, while on August 19, 2019, the freight loading was 2.97 MT and earning of Rs 300.82 crore.
International passenger traffic is subject to restrictions related to the COVID-19. Due to the pandemic, the general travel recommendation issued by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland is still “avoid unnecessary travel”. However, countries such as Estonia and Latvia are exceptions to this, and unrestricted travel is allowed from them.
The Finnish government tightened the travel restrictions again on 19 August 2020, and internal border control will be reinstated on 24 August for Germany, which is one of the Port of Helsinki’s destination countries.
In addition to the widespread economic impact, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have eroded the efficiency gains Indian ports had notched in recent years on the back of an all-round effort centering on infrastructure upgrades, mechanization, and digitization.
Even as the number of container ship calls tumbled due to large-scale carrier sailing cancellations and capacity realignments — down to 1,143 calls across major public ports during the April-June quarter from 1,433 calls a year earlier — the disruption became a thorn in the side of key terminals striving to build on efficiency momentum.
Ships at Chennai Port incurred even longer turn times — 55 hours, up from 45 hours during April-July 2019. At Cochin, which hosts a DP World-operated transshipment facility, the relative numbers stood at 23.52 hours, up from 19.68 hours.
Kwai Tsing Container Terminals in Hong Kong has been linked to about 65 coronavirus infection cases, reports Bloomberg. The virus was most probably spread through communal resting facilities and dormitories, claimed local reports.
Most of the workers were linked to Wang Kee Port Operation Services Ltd. and were mainly asymptomatic. The outbreak has led to some 100 workers being quarantined, the reports said.
Unions asked for the terminal to remain open in order to maintain a flow of goods, but have called for disinfection of the dormitories and companies where cases have been confirmed. They also urged further testing and implementation of social distancing measures at the communal areas and dormitories.
The San Pedro Bay ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in southern California, the largest container port complex in the United States, saw cargo volumes stop sliding down in July after the bleak first half of year impacted by COVID-19 and trade policies.
According to the Port of Los Angeles, it moved 856,389 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in July, which was the busiest month thus far of 2020 and the second-best July history. Meanwhile, the data released by the Port of Long Beach on Friday showed July was the busiest month in the 109-year history of the port.
The online freight aggregators see the situation worsening after the loan moratorium period expires this month prompting recovery agents of banks and financiers to repossess the vehicles for payment defaults
The pandemic changed the whole scenario of air cargo industry doing its business. Apart from dedicated freighters and belly of passenger aircraft, the space inside the cabin including seats and overhead storage bins were used for transporting perishable cargo mostly fruits and vegetables
There are numerous benefits related to e-commerce and it can be fulfilled if the company outsource their logistics requirements to a third party service provider. This enables the e-commerce participants to perform their specialized roles. Thus, it is a reliable alternative to outsource third party organization in the e-commerce ecosystem. 3PL firms are specialized in supply chain management that allow online stores to emphasize on marketing and other business operations.
The Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea is at present working on what will soon be the biggest container ship in the world with a capacity of carrying 24,000 containers at once.
The HMM St. Petersburg built by the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering is the last of the 12 in the new 24,000 TEU class of vessels that contributes to South Korea’s 5-year plan to revive its shipping industry. Each vessel costs anywhere between $140-151 million each
Without the numbers, it is difficult to put into words the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus on the container markets. Fortunately, Clarkson Research Services (CRS) recognised this problem and has now produced Covid-19: Shipping Market Impact Tracker. It shows that as at the end of July 2020, the World Health Organisation was reporting over 155,000 new Covid-19 cases. Rapid intervention took place and China, the initial epicentre of the outbreak, created the first episode of lockdown, which then spread around the world.
Global GDP growth, the lead indicator for seaborne trade, was forecast as a respectable 2.9% in 2019 and actually rose to 3.3% in January 2020. April 2020 is generally seen as the first month to show the true impact of Covid-19; GDP growth fell to -3.0%. Since then, GDP forecasts have continued to go downward and at the halfway point of 2020, GDP growth was down sharply to -8.2%.
The global shipping industry is responsible for transporting as much as 90 percent of world trade. The number of reported total shipping losses of vessels over 100 gross tons (GT) declined in 2019 to 41 – the lowest total this century and a nearly 70 percent decline over 10 years.
Although the number of vessel losses is at a record low, coronavirus has struck at a difficult time for the maritime industry as it implements IMO 2020 (reduction of sulphur emissions), navigates issues such as climate change, political risks and piracy, and deals with ongoing problems such as fires on board large ships.
Evergreen Line has written to their members to support them through the COVID-19 situation. To accommodate new realities and to mitigate resulting repercussions in process of shipments, the company urges their customers to use the Shipment Link Portal for purposes like electronic Booking, B/L instruction, i-B/L, Cargo Tracking, etc. They encourage customers to register themselves on their newly launched GreenX digital platform for an instant quote and secured space and freight booking conveniently.
The COVID‑19 pandemic has sharpened the focus on how technology will shape the marine world in the future. It’s changed the way we live and work in a way none of us could have imagined a few months ago and we need to find ways to adapt.
As an industry, this involves solutions that keep our people safe. Technology will play a role, and by harnessing the learnings of very advanced technology in industries such as healthcare and automotive, we can accelerate our efforts and find the solutions we need.
There is the technology that moves more shipping roles from ships onto land, which can help us navigate access challenges due to quarantine and travel restrictions
The shipping business has been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic despite the fact that maritime trade routes were largely kept open to maintain supply lines.
For the industry to sail past the crisis, jobs in the marine sector need to remain secure and crew changes need to take place smoothly despite closed borders, industry players said.
The number of vessels arriving here in June fell almost 40 per cent from a year ago, and the sector has several new issues to tackle.
The International Propeller Club of the United States has requested that Congress appropriate $3.5 billion for the relief and support of the U.S. maritime industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Niels Aalund, International President, has contacted the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to let them know about the impact that the coronavirus has had on the maritime community.
“The men and women in the U.S. maritime industry have risked their health and lives, and those of their family members, to keep commerce moving during this pandemic including shipping medical supplies, food, and other vital commodities that consumers and manufacturers require.
The International Propeller Club of the United States has requested that Congress appropriate $3.5 billion for the relief and support of the U.S. maritime industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Niels Aalund, International President, has contacted the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to let them know about the impact that the coronavirus has had on the maritime community.
“The men and women in the U.S. maritime industry have risked their health and lives, and those of their family members, to keep commerce moving during this pandemic including shipping medical supplies, food, and other vital commodities that consumers and manufacturers require.
Disruptions that affect global manufacturing—from natural disasters to cyberattacks and trade disputes—have become more frequent and more severe. Now, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies and policy makers alike are reconsidering how to make production networks more resilient.
The stakes are high, according to Risk, resilience, and rebalancing in global value chains, a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). MGI analyzed 23 industry value chains to assess their exposure to specific types of shocks, including pandemics, conflicts, cyberattacks, trade wars, natural disasters, and climate risks. Industries have different exposure to these shocks based on their geographic footprint, factors of production, and other variables.
The nation’s East Coast ports continued to be battered by lower imports from overseas in June, just as their West Coast counterparts have been because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the nation’s busiest facility on the East Coast, told Transport Topics on Aug. 8 it had a 16.3% year-over-year drop when it processed 511,306 industry-standard 20-foot-equivalent containers during that month. In June 2019, the facility moved 611,027 TEUs.
Covid-19 pandemic is now known as the most challenged and dangerous crisis in the world. This has slowed down the economy of the entire world and affected great corporate and businesses. Impact of Covid-19 has been very unnatural and uncommon as it has been devastating. Response of the nation has been unpredictable as well, such as bans on travel, closure of borders, closure of business and several cases in complete lockdown. Hence, the vulnerability of supply chain has been brutally exposed by this pandemic.
With the sweeping societal shifts sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly remote work allowing many to work from more affordable locations, this could change.
The last year has been traumatic for supply chains. First, there was the supply shock of the ongoing U.S.- China trade war. Then, just as the supply outlook began to stabilize, the demand shock of the pandemic hit: The consumer-run on household goods, followed by a once-in-a-century drop in factory output.
With the effects of COVID-19, significantly impacting supply chains around the world, Bruining explains that “the shock to international supply chains since the pandemic broke out has been unparalleled. In April, global air freight capacity was down 38.7% year-on-year as passenger flights were taken out of commission, causing air freight rates to surge. ‘Almost all trade lanes across the world are seeing double-digit air cargo capacity declines compared to last year,
Experts are sailing through some smooth waters in the shipping industry, but there’s a storm on the horizon. While large shipping losses have hit a record low, according to Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE’s (AGCS) Safety & Shipping Review 2020, there are plenty of challenges ahead, not least of which is the coronavirus pandemic and the impact it’s had on the industry already.
Every aspect of the supply chain has been impacted, from production facilities and module yards with project cargo, to vessels being able to carry cargo, being able to get underway, and maintain their port calls
Pacific Basin Shipping Limited, one of the world’s leading dry bulk shipping companies, today announced unaudited condensed consolidated results of the Company and its subsidiaries (collectively the “Group”) for the six months ended 30 June 2020. Mr. Mats Berglund, CEO of Pacific Basin, said: “In a challenging half-year period dominated by the global Covid-19 pandemic and related economic disruption and weaker dry bulk freight rates, we delivered a positive EBITDA of US$79.2 million.
Non-government, or “minor” ports in India that have made steady market share gains at the expense of their major public rivals in recent years are facing a rocky ride in the current fiscal year as the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns ravage domestic and international cargo demand.
India has some 200 minor ports dotting its 4,600 miles of coastline. Active cargo handlers in this grouping enjoy significant competitive advantages over major landlord ports due mainly to two factors: unregulated tariffs along with fewer government controls, and relatively modern infrastructure.
After logging a respectable 4.2 percent increase in total cargo tonnage in fiscal 2019-2020 in a subdued market environment, minor ports saw April-June volumes crash 25 percent year over year. By volume, quarterly freight movement fell to 117 million tonnes, from 155 million tonnes.
Desperate for information, a work-at-home employee of an industrial port tenant clicks on what appears to be an official looking source promising the latest Covid-19 updates, only to innocently launch malware that for a time disables his employer’s GPS system.
Experts say the risks of such a hypothetical scenario occurring within the vulnerable maritime and offshore communities has grown appreciably as the coronavirus has forced most offices to lock down. This left information technology (IT) specialists scrambling to ensure updated security patches are installed on widely dispersed computers and has intensified monitoring of their respective networks for signs of malicious malware, ransomware and email phishing.
The US freight and logistics industry has coped well with the short-term disruptions created by the pandemic. Now, these companies are also pondering what the future holds for them, through the crisis and into the next normal. Our earlier research on intra-US freight (road, rail, and water) identified a long-running secular trend: the decline of what we call freight intensity (the ratio of freight tonnage to GDP). Freight intensity has been steadily falling since 1990 but stabilized after the great recession of 2009 (Exhibit 1). Simply put, the economy has been shifting away from heavy industry and other goods that require transport toward lighter manufacturing and services.
The latest report, covering the current COVID-19 impact on the Cargo Shipping Market. The pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected every aspect of life globally. This has brought along several changes in market conditions. The rapidly changing market scenario and initial and future assessment of the impact are covered in the report. Our data has been culled out by our team of experts who have curated the report, considering market-relevant information. This report provides the latest insights about the Cargo Shipping Market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and trends. It also discusses the growth and trends of various segments and the market in various regions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how vulnerable automotive supply chains are to disruption, bringing under scrutiny the extended global supply strategies.
The abrupt closure of production centres in China and its domino impact, causing widespread chaos among global auto manufacturers, were felt progressively in Europe, the US, India and South America. Having offshored their manufacturing activities to low-cost countries, many automotive OEMs and suppliers are now scrambling to establish shorter or localised regional supply chains.
The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) has urged US lawmakers to give the port industry $1.5 billion to cover business critical expenses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, the AAPA said it had sent letters to US House, Senate and Administration leaders stating the critical role ports play in helping the country recover from the worst effects of the pandemic.
Additionally, the letters claimed ports have been neglected in previous COVID-19 aid legislation – policymakers are currently negotiating on the latest COVID-19 aid package.
The CIPS survey found that the effects of Covid-19 could lead to permanent changes in supply chains, with nearly half (46%) of businesses saying it could take more than a year before the industry returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of global supply chain managers said they will be seeking new or alternative suppliers in order to rebuild their supply chains in the wake of the Covid-19 disruption.
Shipping giant DFDS and union Unite have clashed over claims it is using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to make redundancies and make “brutal attacks” on workers’ pay.
Regional officer Mike Wilkinson launched the broadside, suggesting the dispute could escalate, with 86 jobs at risk and an overhaul of overtime terms and conditions.
But the accusations have been completely refuted, with the scale of the impact outlined.
A severe lack of air cargo capacity will greatly hamper efforts to rapidly distribute a vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) once the medicine becomes available, airline executives and forwarders are warning.
Frantic efforts are being made to develop a vaccine, with medical trials identifying front runners in the United Kingdom, France, United States, Germany, and China. But once a vaccine is ready for public use — possibly as early as the end of this year — the logistics of transporting huge volumes of the highly temperature-sensitive medicines around the world in a severely capacity-constrained environment will present a daunting challenge for the air freight supply chain.
NEW DELHI The first-ever container cargo from Kolkata via Bangladesh’s Chattogram port has reached Agartala, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday, terming it a “historic milestone” in the Indo-Bangladesh connectivity and economic partnership.
Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya had last week flagged off the first trial container ship from Kolkata carrying cargo meant for Agartala that reached the city via the Chattogram port.
Airfreight rates from China and Hong Kong are set to rise again over the coming months as new product launches and a lack of capacity put load factors under pressure, according to freight forwarder Flexport.
Last week rates out of Asia appeared to stabilise — and even crept up a little on some routes — after declining from a mid-May peak.
But in its latest market update, forwarder Flexport warned that prices could be set to rise again over the coming months.
ndividual ports fared worse than the 5.4% average in some instances with the Port of Dalian suffering a 31.6% drop in the same period.
Dalian has been the worst affected of China’s eight major ports, with the decline in the first half of 2020 compounded by a YoY decline of 34.7% for June.
Shenzhen was the second worst performing port and saw a 10.8% TEU drop in the first half of 2020 and a 1.4% drop in June. Shanghai, China’s busiest port, fell by 6.9% and 4.3% in the first half of 2020 and month of June, respectively.
Container cargo handling at India’s major ports tumbled over 30 percent during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal amid the coronavirus pandemic, as per data by ports body IPA.
Container cargo in terms of TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit) at India’s 12 major ports dropped 32.28 percent to 1.74 million in the the first quarter of the current fiscal, according to the latest data from the Indian Ports’ Association (IPA).
In terms of tonnage, the container cargo declined 30.11 percent to 26.34 million tonnes (MT) in the quarter.
The lockdown during the Covid crisis managed to bring the domestic logistic sector including aviation together like never before for carrying cargo.
From being ready to pick up ventilators that Maruti was producing at its plants and flying them to the needy to making sure that a shipment was picked up from Kentucky in the United States and flown to India to fight the Covid pandemic, the domestic airline industry did this and more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created massive challenges for the bleeding disorders community—especially when it comes to ensuring uninterrupted care for people with hemophilia (PWH). Nepal was particularly hard hit by the crisis when the country went on a complete lockdown and lost access to donated factor for months. Fortunately, the WFH Humanitarian Aid department was able to collaborate with two national member organizations (NMOs) and a logistics company to provide factor to the country before the situation got truly critical.
In April, the Nepal Hemophilia Society had completely run out of factor, and had no access to new supplies because the region was under lockdown. The only logistics support for the entire area was a few emergency flights from China. In order to get factor into the country, the WFH mobilized with local resources to consider different options.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan in 2019, the majority of countries around the entire world have experienced national lockdowns, businesses were closed for months, and in many cases are only now reopening, and supply chains experienced severe disruptions to operations.
With no experience in tackling anything like this before, the world couldn’t prepare for the disruptions and damaging shortages of supplies, from the medical industry down to retail and groceries. The UK saw shortages in toilet rolls and other basic necessities, such as pasta, whilst outbreaks in meat processing plants across the US lead to shortages of meat and increased prices across the nation’s grocery stores.
In an intimation to the BSE, the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has detailed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the company and the way ahead.
The pandemic and the lockdown imposed to flatten the curve of infection have caused an unprecedented and a massive havoc in the entire economy and business operations. SCI has also not been immune to its effects.
Around 8 pm on July 13, the Karnataka government ordered a complete lockdown from the following day, and told all industries to close. Companies including automobile manufacturers announced they were shutting; Toyota Kirloskar Motors told employees and vendors that its plant would be closed until July 22, and issued a media statement.
International companies will need to restructure, diversify and ‘de-risk’ their supply chains in response to the COVID-19 pandemic but large-scale ‘near-shoring’ or ‘de-globalisation’ are unlikely, according to logistics experts.
The pandemic will drive supply chain changes, focusing on improving resilience and reducing risk, Prof. Richard Wilding predicted. In particular, changes will be necessary in both transportation and warehousing as supply chains evolve through a ‘pre-new normal’ to a ‘new normal’.
DHL is expecting supply chains to diversify over the coming months in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The express giant today released a new study, produced in conjunction with Cranfield University in the UK, looking into the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on future supply chains.
The study found that in the “pre-new normal period”, ahead of the development of a vaccine, companies would be looking to first stabilise and then adapt.
The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the logistics industry to re-evaluate and re-strategise its operations towards digitalisation.
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) said the move has boosted productivity and enhanced business flow, both of which are fundamental for business sustainability.
During the implementation of the movement control order (MCO), the logistics industry – particularly the e-commerce and e-fulfillment services – were declared as essential services and allowed to operate.
Mida said this was a vital move as consumers had turned to online platforms to shop during the MCO.
Goods, especially food and grocery deliveries, were in high demand.
Undoubtedly, the recent global health crisis has changed the world, particularly in terms of retail and the way people shop. E-commerce has become a lifeline to the nation in more ways than one, from essential grocery deliveries to games and toys for home entertainment, causing online sales to jump 18% percent this year.
More recently, the disruptive effect of the coronavirus pandemic on global supply chains has dominated headlines and emerged as a crucial factor to running a seamless online business. It has been a real wakeup call for merchants on the importance of a strong and diverse supplier network, to avoid dreaded stock shortages and customer churn.
The capability to diversify and adapt, combined with having an effective fulfillment strategy and strong partner network, constitute four key supply-chain lessons from the pandemic, for mitigating unexpected future risks.
Despite being severely hit by the coronavirus crisis, the maritime sector has shown great support towards struggling communities. Here is a look at some of the positive contributions made by those working in the cruise and shipping industries during the pandemic.
From the structure of the global energy mix to work-from-home conventions, the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating changes that most thought would take decades to unfold.
While already-financed capital projects are moving ahead, some project owners are laying off employees, postponing planned capital projects, and pulling back when it comes to new commitments.
“They’d planned to spend $500 million; now it’s going to be $200 million,” said one of several logistics executives from engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and industrial manufacturing firms that shared their experiences dealing with the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) and its repercussions with JOC.com.
As the crew-change crisis inexplicably drags on, Shipping Australia has warned that vessels will soon be detained, blocking the country’s ports and disrupting supply chains.
“Commercial mariners, Australia and international shipping are now at crisis point,” said the carrier lobby group.
“Seafarers are being forced by government rules to combat Covid-19 to stay at sea for months beyond what they originally agreed – we have heard of seafarers being required to stay at sea for up to 14 months.”
Container shipping lines’ ability to provide cargo space as needed showed a marginal improvement at the start of 2020, but this gain will have been dramatically reversed by the end of the first half of this year, according to the fourth annual shipper satisfaction survey of Drewry and the European Shippers’ Council (ESC).
The survey, run jointly by the ESC and Drewry, reveals that the 227 shippers and forwarders who took part rated the service of container shipping lines with an average score of 3.2 on a scale of 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied).
Due to the effect of the Covid-19, many ports are congested. In particular, there are no more reefer plugs available in Yantian port. As a matter of fact, MSC cannot secure the discharge of reefers containers at the designated port if the power source may not be available.
Consequently, at ports, where it is not possible to discharge some or all reefer containers, MSC has no option but to apply clause 19 of our Bill of Lading and Sea Waybill Terms and Conditions. It means that your reefer container(s) may be discharged at an intermediate or alternative port and held there until it is possible to forward them to the designated port of discharge.
the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic remains top of mind, when it comes to assessing how things are going, as they relate to moving freight and supply chain and logistics operations.
When the COVID-19 pandemic truly took hold in mid-March, the almost immediate aftereffects were voluminous.
A complete lockdown in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district due to a flare up in Covid-19 cases proposed from July 10 will disrupt key auto supplies across the country, executives from several large auto companies based in the city told Mint. Aurangabad, which is a well known auto manufacturing hub in western India is home to manufacturing plants of Bajaj Auto and Skoda Auto India also houses a well developed ecosystem of auto ancillaries and is a key supply base for the two wheeler industry.
Air freight rates have sunk to mid-March levels, while jet fuel prices rose 7% last week, putting more doubt on the viability and demand for cargo-only passenger aircraft services.
The TAC index this morning shows air freight rates out of China, to both Europe and the US, sank nearly 10% in the week ending yesterday. But the biggest drops were out of Hong Kong, where prices fell 16% to the US, to $4.29, and 15% to Europe ($3.25).
At the beginning of the pandemic, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), which operates the Port of Mombasa, was forced to suspend all operations except core ones of loading and unloading of exports and imports. This was following two senior staff succumbing to Covid-19 related complications and several others being found to be in infected.
The Kenyan government, working with other East Africa Community (EAC) State partners, including Tanzania and Uganda, also promulgated new regulations for truckers picking and dropping cargo at Mombasa so as to enhance safety of drivers and reduce chances of spreading the Covid-19 infections across the East African region.
Although the port sector has been classified under essential services and remained operational during the lockdown, the adverse impact on domestic economic activity as well as a slowdown in global trade has resulted in a steep contraction in cargo volumes at the major ports.
Similar to the 22 per cent decline in April, May also saw a 22 per cent decline in throughout output, according to a research report by rating agency ICRA.
The delivery services of e-commerce platforms and logistics firms have been affected by the logistics disruptions caused by the various large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) enforced in different cities to the contain the spread of COVID-19. E-commerce platform Tokopedia customer excellence vice president Rudy Dalimunthe told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that late deliveries had been a key source of customer complaints over the last three months.
Covid-19 epidemic is now known as the most challenged and dangerous crisis in the world. This has slowed down the economy of the entire world and affected great corporate and businesses. The impact of Covid-19 has been very unnatural and uncommon as it has been devastating. The response of the nation has been unpredictable as well, such as bans on travel, closure of borders, closure of business, and several cases in complete lockdown. Hence, the vulnerability of the supply chain has been brutally exposed by this epidemic.
Textile industry in Tamil Nadu said that nearly 500 containers carrying apparel accessories and fabrics are stuck in and around Chennai. These containers have come mainly from China.
According to Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) nearly 500 containers are stuck in and around Chennai seaport, along with 500 tonnes of cargo at Chennai airport and another 400 tonnes at Bengaluru airport. The merchandise consisted entirely of apparel accessories and fabrics.
The cost of moving commodities like coal and iron ore across the world’s oceans is surging as China lifts cargo purchases. Whether the rally will withstand the economic aftershocks of the coronavirus is a thornier question.
Rates for giant capesize ships climbed to almost $31,000 a day on Wednesday, almost certainly the highest for the time of year since 2009. The rally has been driven by an increase in cargo flows from Australia and Brazil, the two top iron ore producers, as easing lockdown measures saw Chinese steel mills increasing purchases.
The global logistics industry had a turbulent 2019, registering 1.2% in merchandise trade volume growth due to the stagnant global economy, trade disputes, geopolitical uncertainties, and environmental regulations. In Q1 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak flipped the growth switch in every area of the economy, and the global supply chain is no exception.
India is facing several challenges amid its own country-wide lockdown: labor shortages, cargo capacity challenges, a manufacturing slowdown, order delays and stuck shipments, and demand and supply shocks. India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is at its lowest in 6 years because of the COVID-19 standstill adversely affecting consumption and investment in the Indian economy.
The manufacturing halt has reduced demand for logistics services, which likely will result in downward pressure on prices across warehousing, freight, and logistics. With countries around the world imposing lockdowns, minimal export-import movements have amplified the crisis in the logistics space.
COVID-19 has placed huge stress on the global population, both emotionally and financially. In the UK alone, official figures suggest we are approaching 50,000 deaths1 as a result of the virus. Dealing with such a tragic loss of life has been difficult for individuals and governments alike.
COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of rethinking current supply chains and the benefits enabled by both their digitalization and the use of virtual inventories. The combination of additive manufacturing (AM) and digitization will likely encourage industries to rethink their approach to supply chains.
The importance of reevaluating current supply chains stems from the inherent differences between traditional manufacturing and AM solutions. Traditional manufacturing by nature requires a global supply network with physical warehouses and physical shipping/logistics. One of the key characteristics of traditional manufacturing is mass production, where the greater the production quantity, the lower the price per part
The global COVID-19 pandemic has in a way forced businesses to think of new and unique ways to cater to consumers, but at the same time this has also had a deep impact on consumer behaviour. Increasingly, customers are now exercising caution about where, what and how they make their purchases. With a demand in surge for essentials, companies across the globe, are rushing to streamline their supply chains to secure immediate operations.
NEW DELHI: Extended period of the lockdown and increase in COVID-19 positive cases will have a strong impact on the economic growth, while supply chain disruption is expected to keep food prices at elevated levels, a Dun & Bradstreet report said on Friday. According to Dun & Bradstreet Economy Forecast, while the slowdown in demand will continue, the migration of labourers has added to the challenges faced by companies, especially MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises).
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world in profound and unexpected ways. More than nine million people have fallen ill from the virus and nearly 500,000 have died from it. The livelihoods of millions of farmers and workers have suffered, normal business has been disrupted, and the impacts continue to rise as the virus shifts to new regions.
The jury is still out on how severe and lasting the economic damage will be, or whether the pandemic will spur urgently needed action on climate change, rising inequality and sustainable development. One thing we can all agree on is that ‘normal’ will look different going forward.
“A License for Growth: Customer-centric supply chains ”, is a global survey of 900 senior executives from nine major industries across 10 geographies. The report found the major supply chain challenges that have only been magnified by the ongoing COVID-19 global crisis, which includes inflexibility to deliver undifferentiated customer offerings, poor ecosystem design lacking the right partners and a siloed technology architecture that stifles collaboration and co-innovation.
“The supply chain has always been the lifeline to humanity. The COVID-19 health crisis has brought to light the critical need for a resilient supply chain that produces and delivers all essential goods and services quickly, safely and securely,” said Kris Timmermans, a senior managing director and global supply chain and operations lead at Accenture.
The coronavirus pandemic looks set to continue to hammer container shipping demand. While the lower demand that came when China shut down much of its manufacturing in February has passed, it was been replaced by a demand shock, as almost every other country entered their own forms of lockdown.
Container shipping demand will not enjoy a late summer – or even autumn – revival, according to Bimco. Indeed, rates are more likely fall rather than rise in the coming months.
“The coronavirus pandemic looks set to continue to hammer container shipping demand,” said Peter Sand, Chief Shipping Analyst.
“While the lower demand that came when China shut down much of its manufacturing in February has passed, it was been replaced by a demand shock, as almost every other country entered their own forms of lockdown
The shipping industry continues to find itself caught in Brazil’s struggles with the COVID-19 virus. The ports, which are vital to Brazil’s economy, are being challenged to manage operations with several ships being quarantined as the country’s health officials attempt to stop the spread of the virus.
Disruption in supply of clean energy products and services by DRE enterprises will impact reliable energy supply and energy-dependent sectors like healthcare, agriculture, livelihoods, and others.
As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 inches upwards, with more than a million confirmed cases worldwide, experts fear that the global economy could shrink by 1 percent as opposed to the earlier prediction of 2.5 percent growth with closed borders, disrupted supply chains, and business shutdowns.
In face of rising cases of Covid-19 cases, Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is working hard to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the face of a spike in infections in West Bengal.
According to KoPT chairman“Large parts of the state have been affected and we, being rooted hee, cannot escape the infection. However, several measures are taken to contain its spread and keep morale high
Global supply chains are a central feature of the world economy. As most countries enter Covid-19 related lockdowns, there are concerns about both the present and the future of global supply chains. In the present, global supply chains are widely believed to transmit the crisis across countries (Baldwin and Freeman 2020). The future is forecasted to bring about at least some renationalisation of the supply chains (Javorcik 2020). This retrenchment of supply chains could be given an impetus by protectionist and nationalist policies that may come in the wake of the pandemic (Baldwin and Evenett 2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an enormous strain on global supply chains as they rush to complete and ship orders as quickly as possible. With tightening budgets and a need to stay connected using technology, it is more important than ever for transportation and logistics companies to have an effective mobility strategy in place.
To adapt supply chain strategies, companies must have knowledge of existing technology, then determine which additional tools they must integrate to enable their current technology to support their new shipping needs.
As COVID-19 continues to cause disruption across the globe, we are beginning to see the next wave of change for procurement. However, this time the shift towards automation and AI is enabling companies to survive during uncertainty and ensure business continuity. While the issue is ongoing, businesses can concurrently build new capabilities and ways of working that deliver continued value to customers, partners and shareholders.
The Indian pharma sector is the third-largest in the world. It manufactures almost 60 per cent of the vaccines used globally, including important ones, such as those against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis required by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Furthermore, the country meets 90 per cent of the global demand for the vaccine against measles.
Millions across the world use generic drugs produced by Indian drug manufacturers. More than 250 factories in the country have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the UK Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
The country’s 12 major ports recorded a 21 per cent decline in cargo volumes to 47.42 million tonnes (MT) in April this year, mainly due to coronavirus outbreak, according to Indian Ports Association (IPA).
Ports like JNPT, Chennai, Cochin and Kamrajar witnessed huge decline in cargo handling, as per the latest data.
India has 12 major ports under the control of the Centre – Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla); Mumbai, JNPT; Mormugao, New Mangalore; Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) that handled 705 million tonnes (MT) cargo in the last fiscal.
Impacted by COVID-19, major ports in India witnessed a steep 21% volume contraction in April and bulk cargo throughput may shrink up to 8 %in the current fiscal
It said the container segment may witness a decline of 12-15 per cent during the current financial year.
The impact of COVID-19 on global supply chains has been widespread across industries with electronics, capital goods, commodities, and retail firms all facing headwinds from reduced availability of raw materials
Over the past few weeks, US retailers and food industry players have been battling to ensure that the food supply chains remain robust in the light of unprecedented demand in recent weeks. The impact of the pandemic in the United States was so severe that it forced governments to impose rigorous lockdowns and travel bans in an effort to flatten the curve
The coronavirus pandemic and the related travel restrictions have heavily impacted the business of the Port of Helsinki. Because of this, we have been forced to start extensive cost reductions. As a part of the reduction plan, the Port of Helsinki Ltd and its employees have agreed that the Port’s personnel will be temporarily dismissed.
Carriers are starting to make the first slight adjustments to their mid-June networks on some trades in what appears to be an attempt to match uneven demand patterns as countries and regions emerge from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns at different times.
Logistics Industry is always said to be the backbone for the country to leap to the next level. However, in reality, it has been the most neglected industry. As the saying goes if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. For ages, Governments have neglected this Industry. The labor/workers and drivers have always got neglected. Industries paid pittance and Logistics Industry, in turn, exploited workers and drivers by paying abysmally low salaries and gave workers no job securities. Big company talked big about CSR compliance but outsourced logistics activity knowing fully well to meet the rate offered by company, their service provider has to flout norms.
The Port of Rotterdam has reduced the frequency of meetings for the COVID-19 port consultation committee to once a week from daily meetings. The committee will continue to carefully monitor the situation and issue reports.
The decision was made following a period of stability in terms of the impact the virus had on operations at the port and in the region.
Movement restrictions owing to the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to an initial statistical reduction in drug seizures, but without a real change in terms of supply in the East and Southeast Asia region, according to the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
The shipping industry was severely disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis. However, there are signs of recovery due to increasing demand from Asia as well as a strong commitment within Europe to keeping ports open to allow for the delivery of food and essential goods. Demand for capesize cargo saw an increase in March as a result of growing interest from Japan and South Korea.
Just 36% of UK ports feel confident about their business outlook over the next 12 months and 86% reported either substantial or severe impacts on shipping and customer activities, according to new data published by the British Ports Association (BPA).
Data also shows that while most ports have not taken advantage of Government support measures, over half (55%) are not satisfied with the mechanisms and funding available
The UK government will provide a nine-week £35 million ($42 million) subsidy to ferry operators on cross-channel freight routes and those linking Britain and Ireland to keep vital cargo corridors open until the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is under control and passenger revenue returns.
Agreements have been signed between the government and six ferry companies to ensure there is enough freight capacity to prevent disruption to the flow of essential food and medical supplies, much of which enters or leaves the UK via the Port of Dover.
The economic impact of the global lockdown is harshly felt, with the global freight and shipping industry being the biggest casualties. Global shipping markets have now declined, with the collapse in demand for goods from China having an effect on everything from container ships to oil tankers. Demand has dropped across the board, including at ports, the trucking industry, and the shipping industry. The subdued global demand is also evident in the decline in oil prices, which has had a negative impact on the offshore and onshore oil and gas industry.
As the urban transport sector continues to combat new daily challenges during the global coronavirus pandemic, Intelligent Transport’s COVID-19 hub collates the latest news and views from operators, authorities and associations from around the world.
Estimating losses to the logistics sector at about Rs 50,000 crore due to the coronavirus lockdown, industry body ICC on Thursday demanded a relief package for the industry, including priority lending and lower taxes.
The growing logistics sector in India is looking at mounting losses, with the aviation sector taking the biggest hit, the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) said in a statement.
The economic repercussions of the COVID 19 started to surface as early as January when the number of the cases in China started to rise exponentially. No one really can tell for how long it will persist and what could the repercussions be. It’s even worse than the global financial crisis of 2008 or the one led by SARS.
COVID-19 has caused shipping demand to fall and remain lower for much longer than in a usual year. The shipping industry had expected demand would be lower during the Chinese New Year celebrations and had introduced measures to deal with the lower demand such as blanking container ship sailings. However due to the outbreak of COVID-19 many shipping companies found themselves with no other option but to prolong these measures as countries responded by limiting travel and placing restrictions on the movement of goods..
In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chain security is placed under extreme pressure as a result of cyber security threats
sentiment supported by the researchers themselves, who state that supply chain security is becoming an increasingly graver concern as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. “The COVID-19 crisis and associated global lockdowns are causing dramatic increases in the short-term and medium-term risks radiating from an organisation’s supply chain,”
The crisis has disrupted the balance of the container shipping trade as supply chains have been turned upside down, and disruptions marred businesses and factory activity in China and later across the world.
Maersk, which also reported a 23% rise in first-quarter core profits on Wednesday, now expects global container demand to contract this year, after previously forecasting growth of between 1% and 3%.
Global trade is expected to decline quarter-on-quarter by 27% and container volumes will drop at an equally dramatic rate due to the impact COVID-19 had had on the global supply chain, according to the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) in a report organised by UNCTAD.
However, ports are prepared to for the unprecedented challenges, or so was the consensus during the International Association of Ports and Harbor’s (IAPH) webinar held on 13 May.
As some states ease stay-at-home orders despite the lack of testing and contact tracing, threatening flare-ups of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the prospect of a significant US freight recovery this year is fading. Equally alarming are the hits various transport sectors have already taken due to the volume drop, hinting at the scale of pending damage for the rest of the year.
US ports are projecting a 20 to 30 percent drop in container volumes in the first half of 2020, according to the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA). The Global Port Tracker report on May 8 downgraded the outlook for import volumes even further, dispelling hopes for a peak season as it forecasts double-digit year-over-year volume declines each month until September
The world’s largest container line is bracing for a historic slump in demand after emergency lockdowns across the globe left international trade in tatters.
A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, which controls about one-fifth of the global fleet used to transport goods by sea, says the fallout from COVID-19 will drive volumes down by as much as 25% this quarter.
The bleak signal from Maersk follows a warning from the World Trade Organization last month that the pandemic could result in the worst collapse in international trade flows since World War II.
Business volumes dropped 3.9% in January-March (Q4FY20) this year, more than the 1-2% fall in the earlier three quarters.
The steep fall in container traffic at major ports may not have commensurate impact on Container Corp. of India Ltd (Concor). It is able to store cargo at its warehouses and thus gain market share, especially because of the restrictions on inland road transport.
The practice of cancelling sailings on an industrial scale has been, since February, the strategy put in place by the carriers to address the huge volume drop across major container trades globally, since the outbreak of COVID-19.
Source:- Helleing Shipping News
Post COVID-19, the global logistics market size is projected to grow from USD 2,734 billion in 2020 to USD 3,215 billion by 2021, at a Y-O-Y of 17.6%. The major drivers of this market are increasing focus on the continued supply of essential commodities, creation of supply chain stabilization task force to fight COVID-19, and growing demand and distribution of personal protective equipment. The factors that restrain the market are labor shortage and a shortage of COVID-19 testing kits. The projection for 2021 is estimated to be down by over 10-15% as compared to the pre-COVID-19 estimation.
Most of the goods people use are transported at one time or another by metal cargo containers.
As the coronavirus brought activity at some ports to a halt, there was fear this would result in a shortage of cargo containers and leave store shelves bare.
Most of the goods people use day in and day out are transported at one time or another by rectangular metal containers that can be six to twelve metres long and about two metres wide. Everything from food, medical supplies and electronics are moved this way.
The raw material shortages, supply chain disruptions and lack of packaging material had hit pharma production until now, the movement of migrant labourers to hometowns could pose another challenge in the form of inadequate manpower for producers. Currently, only a few big players like Sun Pharmaceuticals, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and Aurobindo are operating at capacities upwards of 60 per cent
Due to the adoption of free-market principles in China, it has become emerging market economy and one of the world’s most hyped investment locations due to promising opportunity to many companies and investors.
In China, the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears that its economy is to be going down. In the first two months of this year, its economy was already damaged due to pandemic and now number of foreign investors and foreign companies are stepping out from the China and looking to Invest in other Asian countries and India can grab these opportunities.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Case Study: Impact on Oil & Gas Supply Chain, notes that global trade and transportation have virtually come to a halt as countries attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19. Industrial activity has also plummeted.
Ravindra Puranik, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “This unprecedented catastrophe is destroying global oil and gas demand and unsettling the entire ecosystem. Daily activities of producers, equipment and service providers, engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contractors, storage and transportation companies, fleet operators, traders and marketers are now either delayed or cancelled.”
As Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) are essential supplies for the smooth running of a businesses, any failure in the MRO supply chain can amount to huge operational expenditures due to increased downtimes. The MRO supply chain is complex, with thousands of SKUs (stock keeping units) across varied categories. With the worldwide disruption due to COVID-19, industries are striving to maintain as much continuity as possible in their machine-parts and maintenance material supply.
WHO fulfills country requests by placing orders through long-term contracts with vendors who ship cargo via freight forwarders. The COVID-19 pandemic turned the process upside down. Disruptions in Chinese manufacturing fractured global supply chains, creating shortages in the face of soaring demand. Market competition increased, trade restrictions were implemented, and commercial flights were grounded. These challenges created a whole new level of complexity
The logistics chains are going through unusual and massive losses from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The disruption is both from supply and demand side. Terminals, CFSs, ICDs and warehouses are feeling the heat. The shutdown of factories and scarcity of manpower to de-stuff cargo as well as drivers to operate trucks for cargo evacuation has derailed the trade and smooth functioning of the logistics industry
The nationwide lockdown was imposed, due to which businesses and retail sectors have been most impacted. The economy is at stake as most of the offices and production companies are shut. Companies ready with products for sale are unable to send it to the retailer because of the weak supply chain.
These success stories offer in-depth insights into Quantzig’s supply chain analytics capabilities and also sheds light on the importance of leveraging analytics to tackle supply chain disruptions that are currently being witnessed across industries.
According to Quantzig’s supply chain analytics experts, “Owing to the ongoing COVID-19 induced supply chain disruptions, the global supply chains will require restructuring to ensure business goals and objectives are met
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit global trade and investment at an unprecedented speed and scale. Multinational companies faced an initial supply shock, then a demand shock as more and more countries ordered people to stay at home. Governments, businesses and individual consumers suddenly struggled to procure basic products and materials, and were forced to confront the fragility of the modern supply chain. The urgent need to design smarter, stronger and more diverse supply chains has been one of the main lessons of this crisis.
The Centre has given several exemptions to the rural and agricultural sector from the lockdown — including all farming operations and mandis. This has definitely helped maintaining continuity in the supply chain, says Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
The nationwide lockdown, which has brought transportation of goods to near standstill, has left the ports truggling with storage capacity. Logistics experts and container operators say storage container at ports are almost full, with many of the container perishable and essential commodities
Almost 90% of global trade is transported by sea. At the same time, the offshore industry is a major component of global energy supply, while mariculture and capture fisheries constitute vitally important sources of food and animal feeds.
COVID-19 has thrown light on a global blind spot. The world has suddenly woken up to the reality that a hegemonic China has become the irreplaceable fulcrum of a globalised economy and is using that leverage to develop untrammeled power.
The markets, particularly for shipping, oil and stocks, have been highly volatile over the last few months and the news cycle endless. In these times of uncertainty, real time and objective data is critical to understand and take advantage of the ever evolving situation. Below are three thoughts on what we have recently learnt from our data over this time, and one comment on how the world may finally be perceiving cargo shipping in a new positive light.
The Covid-19 pandemic has put a brake on India’s trade in oil and petroleum products, both import and export growth slowing down sharply in the month of March 2020. However, the collapse of global oil prices in the last quarter of the 2019-20 financial year has helped the country reduce its oil import bill, while increasing import volumes at the same time.
COVID-19 has created high transaction costs and uncertainty in India’s transformed food supply chains, putting food security at risk as 92% of food consumption in India is purchased, predominantly from the private sector. Government faces the challenge of marshalling resources between mitigating the impending food crisis and containing the contagion as the risk of sociopolitical tensions looms large.
Source:- Economic and Political Weekly
Supply Chain and logistics has also faced the setbacks and difficulties to a great extent. In the initial days of the outbreak of the disease from China, Chinese markets were affected with most manufacturing units of Construction, Chemical and Shipping industries badly hit. Also this affected the imports of several countries as China happens to be the main trade partner for raw materials, finished goods, spare parts, and so on
the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has produced its study, which is updated on a weekly basis and shared with TIACA and other partners.
However, most of the estimates do not include potential impacts on the international air freight movements on cargo-only aircraft because of the lack of reliable data. What stands out is one of the recent assessments from Seabury
Source:- International Airport Review
Forwarders and insurers warn that cargo flows are becoming more uneven across key markets as a natural container imbalance on headhaul and backhaul trades is exacerbated by extensive blank sailings from carriers trying to match capacity with declining demand.
Stay-at-home orders and the closure of most retail outlets across Europe and North America since early March to limit the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has erased consumer demand and stopped manufacturing in many parts of the world.
Supply chain issues remain a top concern for retailers during the COVID-19 crisis.
Of 558 US manufacturers surveyed in March, 78% anticipated a financial impact while 36% were already facing supply chain disruptions.
Government stay-at-home order are driving supply chain shifts as consumers increase the amount of shopping they do online and more food and supplies are being distributed through consumer (rather than commercial) channels. These abrupt changes in consumer behavior are causing demand for warehouse space to increase rapidly, which is expected to boost demand for a wide range of building and construction materials
The Global Logistics market accounted for $10.68 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $15.88 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period.
Some of the key factors propelling the market growth are rising use of multimodal transport and innovation in mobile technologies. However, lack of uniform governance standards in developing and underdeveloped countries is the restraining factor for the growth of the marke
Due to COVID-19 India’s supply chains will go through huge transformations in the next few years. As ongoing supply side issues start getting addressed, the demand contraction in several industry segments creating further disorder. Organizations would need to adapt to this new reality and consider some of the following thoughts to build supply chain resilience.
Source:- Retail Economic Times
The report spotlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global supply chain. Using proprietary analytics from Transplace’s over $9 billion in freight-under-management, the quarterly report provides shippers and carriers with unprecedented access to the transportation market, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, and international ocean logistics. Supply chain, transportation, and logistics professionals can use the report to streamline their operations and prepare for what’s ahead in the second half of 2020.
Global supply chains have seen significant disruption from the spread of COVID-19. For crop protection, it has interrupted production along the entire crop input value chain — from raw materials to manufacturing to packaging to distribution to transportation. The Chinese authorities reacted to this outbreak by imposing severe restrictions on movements of people, effectively imposing curfews and quarantines across the country from the end of January onward. This necessarily also affected the economy, as many production sites closed in order to reduce possible contact between individuals.
Logistics companies have experienced more than a 50 percent decline in overall business performance since the COVID-19 outbreak hit Indonesia in early March, the Indonesian Logistics Association (ALI) reported.
The Chinese authorities reacted to this outbreak by imposing severe restrictions on movements of people, effectively imposing curfews and quarantines across the country from the end of January onward. This necessarily also affected the economy, as many production sites closed in order to reduce possible contact between individuals.
The governmental decisions and factory shutdowns have attracted most of the blame, the crisis has thrust the widespread confusion that plagues global supply chains throughout the year into the global spotlight.
Put simply, entities throughout a supply chain, from manufacturers to retailers, all too often don’t have a firm hold on just how much they need to be ordering, creating, shipping, and selling. Yet they’ve shied away from technologies that could help turn this around.
The CEO of Coca-Cola Co. described what he saw from the helm of the iconic American beverage company.According to James Quincey “The supply chain is creaking around the world, Fast forward a month and some strains remain and some are worsening, particularly in the pipelines for fresh food and medical goods
Companies have spent much of 2020 racing to shore up supply chains as the coronavirus shut down much of the world, but business leaders say they expect problems to remain even as countries start to reopen their economies.
With economic activity grinding to a halt in most industries, transportation companies are trying to adjust to the dynamic market conditions. Recent numbers from Geotab show commercial transportation in the U.S. and Canada is operating at 89% capacity for heavy trucks, while transportation to grocery stores is at 90%.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted real problems with global manufacturing supply chains. According to Supply chains are globalized, even for small- to medium-sized businesses. This additional complexity to supply chains adds risk of disruption in times such as these. The other factor is that “just-in-time” supply chains are great for lean manufacturing, but just-in-time does mean that there are less buffers that handle disruption.
Union Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya discussed business continuity plans with representatives of the maritime industry. He also assured the industry leaders that the Indian ports are ready in full capacity to start operations as usual but there are a few challenges due to COVID-19, which will be solved with policy decisions and their sincere implementation
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted real problems with global manufacturing supply chains. According to Supply chains are globalized, even for small- to medium-sized businesses. This additional complexity to supply chains adds risk of disruption in times such as these. The other factor is that “just-in-time” supply chains are great for lean manufacturing, but just-in-time does mean that there are less buffers that handle disruption.
Union Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya discussed business continuity plans with representatives of the maritime industry. He also assured the industry leaders that the Indian ports are ready in full capacity to start operations as usual but there are a few challenges due to COVID-19, which will be solved with policy decisions and their sincere implementation
India will export 285 million tablets of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to 40 countries on a commercial basis, while five million tablets are being gifted to a number of nations to help the world fight Covid-19
Import containers have piled up at ports as manufacturing of non-essential goods is yet pick up under the lockdown, prompting some ports to shut export gates.
India’s exports shrank almost 35% in March, the biggest contraction in almost a decade, reflecting the global slowdown made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Noting a drop in export-import cargo due to supply chain disruptions on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has asked India’s all 12 major ports to defer the lease rentals and licence fees-related charges for April, May and June.
They have been asked to waive rentals in proportion to the cargo drop and not to levy penalties.
The government has come out with guidelines for change of crew at Indian ports, a move that will put an end to hardships faced by stuck seafarers and pave way for them to return to their homes.
Under the standard operating procedure (SOP), any seafarer would be allowed sign-on at the port of embarkation only after test for COVID-19 is found negative, failing which action as per guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare would be taken.
The Union Health Ministry has sought a ban on the export of anti-tuberculosis drugs over concerns that the lockdown due to COVID-19 has affected the production of such medicines. Delay in production and receipt of supply may cause acute shortage of these drugs, as per Union Health Secretary, they have requested an empowered group of government officials to direct the department of pharmaceuticals under the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers and commerce ministry for issuing necessary directions for prohibiting export of anti-TB medicines.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the industry globally, including the Indian cargo industry. The pharma companies need to enhance their supply chain and make their logistics systems more efficient to deal with such medical emergency situations
As per the director of JSW Steel, the domestic demand is expected to restart gradually with segments like packaging, steel products for domestic gas distribution, infrastructure, special steel for automotive etc.” For the next one to two months, the focus will be on a balance between domestic and exports.
Lockdown measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic had immensely affected steel customers like auto and construction segments that closed down. Being an intermediate product, dependent on derived demand, steel companies resorted to rationalising production.
Because of COVID-19 situation, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has allowed import of drugs with less than 60 per cent residual shelf life on the condition that importers give an undertaking that the drug would be utilised or consumed before the expiry date.
The Covid-19 pandemic has made business tougher for domestic ports and logistics companies, which were already grappling with falling earnings amid the global economic slowdown.
Currently, different sections of the business, like warehousing, trucking and last-mile delivery among others, are facing several challenges, with labour shortage being the biggest challenge across all the segments.
The lockdown restrictions and the need for social distancing to curb the spread of coronavirus have caused severe impediments to EXIM trade in issuance, delivery and dispatch of the hard copy trade documentation required by many departments, authorities and financial institutions.This has hurt the release of import containers and cargo at various ports in India.
COVID-19 impact has spared none, irrespective of sector, size and age. One of the biggest sectors affected by the global pandemic is shipping and logistics, which is labour intensive and connects every corner of the globe.
As the COVID-19 crisis accelerates, shipping and logistics sector will need to show more resolve to withstand the scourge.
India has decided to supply anti-malarial drug ‘hydroxychloroquine‘ to 55 countries. India is exporting the drug to 21 of these countries on a commercial basis and the remaining will receive it on a grant in very small quantities.
The Hydroxychloroquine drug was identified by the US Food and Drug Administration as a possible treatment for the COVID-19. The drug is currently tested on more than 1,500 coronavirus patients in New York
Export demand from Indonesia will help compensate fall in domestic demand for sugar due to lockdown.
With Indonesia opening up its market for Indian sugar, including giving the preferential lower import duty to India (along with Thailand and Australia), Indian sugar will be in very high demand in Indonesia.
Estimating losses to the logistics sector at about Rs 50,000 crore due to the coronavirus lockdown, industry body ICC on Thursday demanded a relief package for the industry, including priority lending and lower taxes. The growing logistics sector in India is looking at mounting losses, with the aviation sector taking the biggest hit, the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) said in a statement.
With the world in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the shipping industry is already feeling the impact as the global economy heads into a deep recession.
Hundreds of ship sailings have been cancelled as first ports in China, and then across the globe, have seen trade fall away – with millions of workers and consumers in lockdown.
Caught in the centre of this have been the world’s 1.6 million seafarers, on 50,000 tankers and cargo carriers. Many of them are unable to leave their ships, or find themselves stuck in hotels without pay and unable to get flights home.
The movement of ships at Indian ports is almost halted because of the lockdown and quarantine measures taken by the government to control coronavirus pandemic. There are scary views of ships waiting at the mid-sea for days at the Mumbai, Gujarat and the west coasts because of the manpower shortage and logistics problems at the ports.
Basmati rice export from India is set to repeat record shipments in FY 20 as exporters cater to spike in global demand for the food grain owing to Covid-19 pandemic and the festival of Ramadan.
Gross exports from the largest rice exporting country is expected to amount to 4.4 million tonnes in FY 20, at par with FY 19, even as consignments were stranded at ports and foreign destination since last week of March due to the nationwide lockdown to combat Covid-19.
The Gujarat’s cotton yarn are finding it difficult to receive their money from buyers as they are not able to send documents related to Bill of Lading (BoL) to foreign banks as well as to importers in different countries as courier services are closed since the announcement of nationwide lockdown.
China’s foreign trade fell again in March, even as businesses returned to work after a lockdown in the aftermatch of the COVID-19 outbreak, with the pandemic weighing on the outlook of the manufacturing powerhouse.
China’s exports fell 6.6 per cent in March from a year earlier and imports dropped 0.9 per cent, according to Customs. The contraction was less than a Bloomberg economist forecast that had predicted a decline of 10 per cent or more in both figures, and well below the 17.2 per cent plunge seen in exports in the first two months of the year. But analysts warned that a broader recovery would be hamstrung for as long as the viral pandemic ravaged China’s trading partners.
The COVID-19 crisis is having a major impact on the chemicals industry. Demand for chemicals is experiencing severe shocks across end-markets, global supply chains are disrupted, stock prices of chemical companies have taken unprecedented hits, and the competitive order of chemicals producers has changed virtually overnight.
Truckers and transporters are increasing prices by as much as 80%. and freighter operators are adding surcharges for transportation of goods as they grapple with regulatory challenges, shortage of manpower and a huge slump in supply.This will increase logistics costs for companies and likely in products as well.
The closure of factories has also left cargo grounded (or in ships in anchorage) . India’s 7,516.6 km long coastline caters to more than 90% of India’s trading by volume.
At ports across India, cargo terminals are operating at capacities less than 30%.Port operators, importers, and shipping companies raised some of these issues, including the unavailability of trucks (and drivers), the shortage of workers in ports and cargo terminals, and choked ports .
Following the COVID-19 outbreak situation, the cruise industry has been the most impacted by the disease, as two thirds of the respondents indicate that passenger vessel calls are down more than 50% and in some cases even down more than 90%.
With cruise lines’ decision to cease operations, only seven ships or approximately 2.5% of the global cruise fleet remains at sea on their way to port. Namely, cruise vessels are berthing for lay-up (no passengers, only crew), with some ports limiting the number of crew remaining on board.
The effect of the lockdown has hit the agricultural sector hard. A lack of transport, market shutdowns, labour shortages, strict action by police on transport and the stringent imposition of lockdown by local authorities have put enormous strain on India’s food supply.
Farmers across the country are now dumping their perishable produce; fruits, vegetables and milk are being disposed of into compost pits and irrigation canals. Even if farmers managed to take their produce to the markets, there are fewer wholesale buyers. Large quantities of food are now stuck at the production level of the supply chain in villages. As a result, supply chains have completely broken. Farmers are isolated from wholesale and retail buyers in the cities leading to huge financial losses.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays and other frustrations in businesses’ global supply chains, highlighting how vulnerable many are to unexpected disruption. Companies caught flat-footed should learn their lesson from this crisis and begin making fundamental changes now to prepare their supply chains for future shocks.
The current supply chain disruption is impacting consumer demand, labor, materials, and delivery—forcing businesses that rely on global sourcing to make tough choices.
With coronavirus causing longer Lunar New Year shutdowns of factories in China, according to the Global Port Tracker report the imports at major U.S. retail container ports are expected to see a sharper-than-usual drop this month.
Many Chinese factories have already stayed closed longer than usual, and we don’t know how soon they will reopen. U.S. retailers were already beginning to shift some sourcing to other countries because of the trade war, but if shutdowns continue, we could see an impact on supply chains.
Source:- Material Handling & Logistics
The Key Workers across the UK include those in the ports, shipping and logistics industries who are literally ensuring the nation is fed and supplied, and helping us overcome Covid-19. However to continue to do this, UK ports do need some assistance from policy makers.
akistan has banned the export of anti-malaria drugs after several countries, including the US, started using the medicines to treat coronavirus patients, according to a media report.
The ban, which has been imposed with immediate effect, will remain till the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on COVID-19 deems necessary, according to a notification released by the Commerce Ministry on Friday amidst a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the country.
China accounts for 27 % of India’s automotive part imports and major global auto part makers,owing to the closure of the factories of the companies, there has reportedly been a delay in the production and delivery of vehicles like Bharat Stage Four (BS-IV) compliant models.
Post coronavirus related lockdown in China, demand resurfaced swiftly indicating signs of a V-shaped recovery. OEMs expect domestic PV sales to recover by the festive season of CY20
A new Port Economic Impact Barometer has reported steady overall port cargo volumes for the week beginning 30 March, but warns that the “full impact” of coronavirus (COVID-19) on container volumes is yet to come.
The impact of COVID-19 has also caused serious problems and changes in the international trade and transportation fields that are the major components of the global economy. Many sectors were and are still affected by the current circumstances and the activities, operations of some sectors have come to a standstill.
Many severe obstacles and changes have been observed due to Covid-19 in the field of international trade and transportation. In maritime transportation it is of utmost importance to keep the operations stable and as planned.
Source:- Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
The container volume of China’s eight major ports declined 4.4%. Recent weeks have seen major lines starting to blank large numbers of sailings between Asia and Europe/US as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts demand in Western countries.
Source:- Seatrade Maritime News
The Port of Long Beach continued to feel the economic effects of COVID-19 in March with more cancelled sailings and a decline in cargo containers shipped through the nation’s second-busiest seaport.
Overseas health concerns over the coronavirus caused 19 cancelled sailings to the Port of Long Beach during the opening quarter of 2020, which contributed to a 6.9% decline in cargo shipments compared to the first three months of 2019.
According to the report by Baker McKenzie and Oxford Economics, the sectors hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to see the strongest recovery as pent-up demand is released and production ramps up, but this is provided the supply chain is fixed.
These sectors include motor vehicles and parts, electronics, textiles, headline manufacturing, and aerospace and other transport equipment.
Analysis by GlobalData surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic found that the manufacture of 57 drugs is at risk of being affected because of “general manufacturing and export restrictions across China”.
These drugs range from calcium supplements to cancer and HIV drugs. It affects some of the world’s largest pharma companies, such as Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson and Novartis, as well as smaller, more specialist developers, such as Vertex and Jazz.
Source:- Pharmaceutical Technology
In Asia, the semiconductor supply chain is working to overcome intractable challenges caused by COVID-19 including sourcing raw materials for chip manufacturing and maintaining assembly and test operations, Mark Patel, senior partner & Semiconductor Practice lead, McKinsey & Company, said at the webinar. Those problems cascade to foundries and IDMs even as they confront the compounding issue of a shortage of fab operators and engineers. Downstream, the inability to package, test and qualify product risks exacerbating the supply constraints.
Source:- Printed Electronics Now
US imports from Asia in March fell to the lowest level in seven years as retailers and manufacturers pulled back on orders of non-essential merchandise and inputs amid plunging consumer demand and factory closures caused by the (COVID-19).
According to Global Port the total US imports in the first half of 2020 will decline 15.1 percent from the same period last year. Year-over-year (y/y) monthly declines will likely continue into the second half of 2020, it projected.
As participants in the international supply chain grapple with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on short-term container logistics, it is becoming increasingly clear that the broader impact is growing rapidly and will be felt for the year ahead, if not beyond.
According to International Maritime Organization Secretary-General at the time of COVID-19 pandemic ,the shipping industry must prioritized new restrictions and come into force and address the issues which are effecting/hamper the delivery of food and medical supplies.
Source:- Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to gradually lift the restrictions on crew changes enabling seafarers stuck in UAE to return to their homes.
The move is being announced in the wake of growing concerns for seafarers and their mental health as their transfer has been banned as part of measures aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19.
The trucking and transportation industry is one of many being affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic. What’s worse, there’s a trickle-down effect on several other markets, including horticulture.
The government on restricted the exports of diagnostic kits amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 outbreak.
According to Directorate General of Foreign Trade“The export of diagnostic kits (diagnostic or laboratory reagents on a backing, preparation diagnostic or laboratory reagents)… is restricted with immediate effect.”
The unfolding COVID-19 pandemic is so far having little impact on the global food supply chain, but that could change for the worse – and soon – if anxiety-driven panic by major food importers takes hold, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday.
Source:- UN News
AS the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, retailers have stepped up their efforts when it comes to providing consumers with essential goods and to protect the health and well-being of communities.
In order to achieve this retail supply chains are facing challenges that require extraordinary measures to ensure that essential goods continue to be delivered to stores and consumer doorsteps
Singapore’s shipyards and marine industries look set to suspend work for a month as the government closes all workplaces except those in essential services and key economic sectors to close in the fight against COVID-19
According to the gobusinesCOVID government website essential services in transportation and storage include: “Shipping, shipping-related services, safety and navigation services, port and terminal operations, port marine services”.
Source:- Seatrade Maritime Time
As the panic of COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, multiple regions and organisations have gone into lockdown halt production and impacting economies. As a result the disruption to supply chains is already clear to see.
In order to maintain successful distribution of critical goods and services quickly, safely and securely to those at risk of infection and those on the frontline, business leaders are required to make rapid and immediate decisions to sustain business operations as well as protect workers.
The pharmaceutical supply chains during COVID-19 are the restrictions and impact of this pandemic on two of the largest global producers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and generics: China and India.
According to reports, the restrictions were imposed because India’s manufacturers rely heavily on imports of their APIs from China. As a result of the lockdowns, slowed production of APIs by the latter resulted in less availability and higher costs.
Source:- European Pharmaceutical Review
In India, specific industries is dependent on Chinese imports. These industries are under significant risks such as pharmaceuticals, automobiles, chemicals, and textiles.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and restriction on the trade, domestic firms must develop their local sourcing units and adopt alternative strategies for reducing dependency on China, to survive in the market.
The impact of COVID-19 on agriculture is already being felt. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index, which records monthly changes in the international prices of commonly-traded food commodities, averaged 180.5 points in February, 1% lower than in January.
Insiders say e-commerce companies are battling to procure passes for their logistics and delivery staff in various states. Since the logistics is time consuming and often clumsy while dealing with huge demand, there is urgent need for the government to look at alternate mechanisms like digital checks.
The biggest risk faced worldwide is the potential breakdown of their healthcare system, resources and supply chain. COVID-19 impacted countries have witnessed a dramatic demand for medical supplies, test kits, respirators, masks, tubes, robes, thermometers, hazmat suits and health workers precisely at a time when the traditional global supply chains are shutting down.
According to Asian Development Bank the developing countries in Asia and the Pacific should consider developing their own solar industry supply chains as the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed their over-reliance on China to carry through the energy transition.
The affect of COVID-19 has has put global pharmaceutical supply to the test especially as several large biopharma companies use Chinese facilities for vital manufacturing steps in their products.
As per Global Data, the supply chain problems include the largely quarantined Chinese workforce, delays in transporting materials and other logistical hurdles caused by strict population movement regulations. The outlet stated that, while some Chinese factories have returned to normal capacity, others are operating at between 50 and 80 percent capacity.
Source:- European Pharmaceutical Review
VOC Port is taking all precautionary measures by stringently following the instructions given by Ministry of Shipping and Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai and Government of Tamil Nadu and also the Standard Operating Procedures issued by the Port Health Organization, Thoothukudi under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Source:- Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
In order to maintain proper supply lines at seaports and facilitate unhindered cargo movement,the government has instructed all the shipping companies not to collect any detention charges on export-import (EXIM) cargo in the wake of the situation arising due to COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, the shipping companies have been asked not to levy any container detainment charges on import and export shipments till April 14.
A lock-down to contain the COVID-19 has upended agriculture, the lifeblood of India’s rural economy, breaking down the farm-to-fork supply chain by cutting off farmers from buyers of their produce.
Thousands of trucks carrying essential commodities are stranded on national highways even though they are officially allowed to ply. Despite the omnibus federal orders that permit them, many transporters haven’t received last-mile permits from local authorities.
The coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted the logistics sector, both in India and globally, as marketplayers say that global capacity has gone down 70% and freight rates have shot up by 6-8 per cent.
As per the IHS Markit’s head of Global Research and Analytics, Maritime and Trade, carriers have shown discipline during this downturn by quickly reducing sailings in the face of falling demand. That’s due, in large part, to increased flexibility resulting from the evolution of the newest-generation carrier alliances that date back several years.
Secondary metal producers are facing a double-whammy due to the spread of Covid -19 in India and overseas.Since secondary metal producers had booked their raw material (metallic scrap) from overseas suppliers based on the prevailing price about three months ago, the subsequent decline in metal prices has made import of raw materials costlier.
Scrap imported at lower prices stuck at ports, finished goods lying at factories with no transport available; shipping firms make hay by charging huge sums for storage at ports.
Small minority of companies have invested in mapping their supply networks before the pandemic emerged better prepared. They have better visibility into the structure of their supply chains. Instead of scrambling at the last minute, they have a lot of information at their fingertips within minutes of a potential disruption. They know exactly which suppliers, sites, parts, and products are at risk, which allows them to put themselves first in line to secure constrained inventory and capacity at alternate sites.
Source:- Harvard Business Review
South Africa’s main export terminals will close to mineral exports, when a nationwide 21-day lockdown to try to contain the coronavirus begins, disrupting copper and cobalt supplies from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.Miners in the African copperbelt, which accounts for more than a tenth of global production, typically transport copper overland to South Africa’s ports, where it is exported mainly to China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal.
The threat from COVID-19 has pushed the Indian Industry to seek help from the govt by drafting a 10 point boost plan for the exporters affected. The Confederation of Indian Industry has drafted plans from a one-time extension of the customs duty payments and filing of bill if entry to extending the 5% interest subvention scheme to all exporters.
China transitioned from a low wage, low regulation economy to an upper-middle-income country changing certain fundamentals. There’s now higher wage demands, manual labourers and strict laws. As if all this wasn’t enough, Trump’s trade war and the recent COVID-19 pandemic has left an everlasting scar in China’s manufacturing sector.
Africa is already grappling with widespread geopolitical and economic instability and with South Africa reporting its first case of the COVID-19, there has been a negative impact in the demand for Africa’s raw materials and commodities seeing a decline in China. Adding to the problems, Africa’s access to manufactured goods and industrial components from the region has been hampered.
Source:- Global Compliance News
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government on Wednesday banned the export of anti-malarial
drug hydroxychloroquine, to ensure sufficient availability of the medicine in the domestic market.
GEODIS workforce is transitioning to a remote working environment in different European
countries, CCL (Cargo Container Lines) Original Bill of Lading, import and export shipments
may not be handled as promptly as expected in most of our European branches. Due to the
changes implemented by governments over the last few days, there are further port restrictions
around the globe. Read more to find out.
The New Zealand government has approved essential international air & sea freight, transport
and warehousing services open. Even in the most impacted communities,the government have
been able to operate effectively. As per the news article, the rest of the world is moving towards
similar restrictions as those about to take effect in New Zealand, albeit at different speeds.
Italy’s maritime sector is worse affected by the growing COVID-19 pandemic as traffic at the country’s ports slows, and lockdown efforts undercut trade connections with the rest of the
world. Shipowners have asked Italy’s Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, for direct state funding over three years along with an 18-month moratorium on all financial obligations
and a year-long exemption on social security payments for vessels under the Italian flag
Source:- The Wall Street Journal
BIMCO has received a letter from the Italian Ports Association on its message to BIMCO has mentioned,
that Italian Ports are fully operational and will ensure the safety of cargo and crew members. Read more
to find out about measures adopted by the government.
Source:- Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
Fourteen days quarantine imposed by India on shipping vessels arriving from any port in China.There
are certain parts of DGS’s guidelines for the ports in the country to deal with vessels /people on-board
in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
As per the industry executives, the devastation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has had a
disastrous effect on almost all container terminals, bulk cargo terminals, container freight stations
(CFS) and inland container depots (IDCs) across India.
Source:- The Hindu Business Line
As per the Ministry of Shipping, they have issued necessary directions from time to time to all ports
to put in place a screening, detection and quarantine system for disembarking.
Source:- Press Information Bureau Government of India
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Western governments are forced to impose lockdowns,
threatening the supplies of necessary products like medicines. The freight carriers are the worst
affected by this as they struggle to deliver goods by land, sea, or air. Problems ranging from finding
enough truck drivers to restrictions on seafarers and a lack of air freight are hitting the smooth flow
of goods
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