Caro Cliente/ Parceiro de Negócios,

De forma a atualizar a informação sobre a situação na R.P. China no que concerne ao CORONAVIRUS, a seguir transcrevemos a comunicação recebida hoje dos n/ colegas da FECL em Hong Kong, China e Taiwan.

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Please find some updates regarding the current situation in China in terms of reopening of companies, ports, factories and carriers. Any question about existing or new shipments or about any assistance needed by your colleagues or customers, please let us know and we shall support the best possible way.

Our offices: Further to previous sharing, we are now fully re-opened in Foshan, Fuzhou and Hong Kong. We are working in compliance with local governments regulations with a reduced number of colleagues on site in Dalian, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xiamen. Our offices Tianjin, Hangzhou and Chongqing are awaiting local government final approval to re-open, targeted on the 17^th, and are working to our Emergency BCP plan, with limited colleagues on site supported by those with remote access to systems working from home. Except for Wuhan, we are fully operational and able to process shipments and documentation for shippers. To note that our Ningbo office is to resume work on Feb.17 while colleagues are working from home this week. Our NBO CFS will start operation on Feb.12 and the trucking is to resume from Feb. 17, while it is still expected reduced labor as many colleagues / personnel are either still in transit, or have physically returned but undergoing self-quarantine at home.

Shippers :The 10th February was the official return to work day for suppliers in most China provinces. Shippers are required to submit applications to local governments to resume work, and permission is granted only if they can demonstrate that they have strict hygiene and safety measures in place. Many offices and factories have successfully re-opened, although most are not fully operational due to the low level of employee attendance. Most local authorities in China have imposed a mandatory 14-day quarantine period for workers returning from another province, and this has affected staffing.

Our own back to work survey of our customers’ major suppliers still indicates that around 70% are returning to work this week, leaving a significant number that are not planning to re-open until the 17th February or later. There are also some exceptions to the 10th February start date; in Guangzhou, Foshan and Nanjing, export factories and suppliers of products that are not essential to Coronavirus epidemic control have been officially advised to consider extending the Chinese New Year holiday to February 17th. In Ningbo, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Chongqing the local government regulations have been stricter and some shippers here are struggling to get the permission to return to work granted. Whilst export production is resuming this week, labour shortages and the quarantine requirements will affect supplier production for at least another two weeks.

Shipping Lines: An increasing number of shipping lines are deferring their full return to work until the 17th February, allowing many staff to continue working from home this week.

Cargo Bookings have been very low, and as a result, sailings have been cancelled over the last week.

 Ports & Terminals: Except for Wuhan, ports and terminals in China continue to operate normally.

Trucking in China: Most of our trucking suppliers have resumed operations, however they are facing the same issues as shippers about staffing. Many drivers are observing a 14-day isolation period at home, resulting in around only 50% of the labour supply being available. Our transporters must also follow the local government rules in obtaining permission to resume operations, and this is taking longer than anticipated in some origins. The control in the Ningbo area is very strict, with only a limited number of trucking companies up and running.

Our China teams will work closely with shippers and will provide the best possible solutions for any shipper needing help with local transportation.

Please also kindly refer to below piece of news about China’s Government’s wish to urge resuming of production for the Country: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202002/12/WS5e42f285a310128217276c84.html

Lack of cargo sees carriers forced into last-minute voyage cancellations

Despite ocean carriers discounting container spot rates from Asia this week, there was still insufficient cargo to sustain the already reduced alliance service networks.

Maersk and MSC were obliged to cancel this week’s 2M AE7 / Swan loop from China to North Europe at the last minute after they were unable to secure enough cargo. The 19,472 teus MSC Rifaiya commenced its loading programme in Ningbo, China on Monday, but rather than despatch the ship to Europe less than half-full The Loadstar understands it was decided to anchor the vessel. The 2M partners said today they would also blank the sailing of the AE15 loop next week, with the 13,050 teus MSC Ariane scheduled to start loading in Shanghai on Monday. This follows the announcement in the week by the 2M of a further void sailings to the Mediterranean and on the transpacific, together with a number of other westbound cancellations by the Ocean and THE alliances.

Source : The Load Star

And finally, some updates from a partner in Taiwan if relevant for your customers:

Taiwan situation:

18 confirmed cases, some have in the meantime been cleared and released from hospital, those passengers aboard the cruise ship diamond princess who visited Taiwan a few weeks ago did not infect anybody in Taiwan, all people that came in contact with those tourists had to undergo a health check and tested negative.

Starting from yesterday, non Taiwan residents/citizens transiting via Hong Kong cannot enter Taiwan, citizens/residents are allowed to but have to undergo a health check and do home quarantine for 14days. This results in most flights between Hong Kong and Taiwan being suspended. Same goes for direct flights between Taiwan and China, those are with few exceptions all suspended till end of March. Besides all PRC, Hong Kong, Macau citizens & residents, Students from Hong Kong and Macau that are enrolled on Taiwan universities are banned to return to Taiwan (about 7500 out of 10’000 enrolled students). The Philippines yesterday announced a ban on all direct flights between China including Taiwan and the Philippines, part of a one China policy, later in the day then clarified it would not apply for Taiwan by one ministry and then another one confirming the ban, bit messy. Meanwhile the Italian Government still not allowing direct flights between Taiwan and Italy (China airlines to Roma, Eva Air to Milano) till the end of March. All other flights between Taiwan and Europe operate normal. The WHO does not recognize and ban Taiwan to participate in the regular meetings (pressured by China), have allowed Taiwan (after intervention by Japan, USA, Canada and the EU) to share information relevant to the corona virus in a video conference.

Some factories in Taiwan lack parts from China, slowing down production and shipping at those factories. Examples, a company that produce light sets for cars had to delay shipments as one small cable inside the light set  is sourced from China and alternative sourcing will take time. A Taiwan bicycle frame manufacturer, do cut tubes in China, bring them to Taiwan where they produce the frames. Even if tubing for the frames are already in Taiwan, raw frames cannot be painted/completed as the decal (brand of the bicycle displayed on the frame) is made in China and is out of stock.

Air-freight:

Present: In strong demand, so far we are able to uplift all shipments promptly, though some long haul flights from transit hubs to Europe (Dubai, Doha, Muscat, Abu Dhabi) have been cancelled, affecting cargo belly capacity on those routes both West- and East bound.

Outlook: Depending on the re-start of production in China and lack of passenger flights to/from China we expect space to become extremely critical on all Airlines serving the Asia-Europe routs from week 8 – 9 for a extended period. Special premiums may be charged by Airlines to uplift shipments. Very difficult to predict the extend and duration of such a scenario. The lack of flights between Taiwan and China will further delay production on both sides due to lack of parts/raw material as outlined above.

Sea-freight:

Present: As reported by popular online news portals, the three main consortiums of shipping lines have re-scheduled many sailings to both North European and Mediterranean ports. This is still ongoing and the may vessel cancellations do cause delays of shipments also ex. Taiwan. Both The Alliance and the Ocean alliance consortiums are in process of cancelling voyages and at the same time adding Taiwan port calls to other loops. Some do open space from Taiwan, knowing that there is no cargo from China, some do not seem to have realized this and manage the situation rather poorly.

Outlook: So far about 50% of direct sailings between Taiwan and both NEUR and MED operated by the The Alliance and the Ocean Alliance have been announced to be cancelled till the end of March.

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Para qualquer informação ou esclarecimento adicional, por favor não hesite em nos contactar.

Ao inteiro dispor, subscrevemo-nos com os melhores cumprimentos.

PORTOCARGO Transitários S.A.