Nowadays, countries around the world are in urgent need of medical supplies. Many companies want to get a share of the pie. They are willing to switch industries and purchase production equipment at high prices, hoping to make a fortune during the epidemic. However, they have encountered many obstacles, such as certification failure and freight ordering. Not on.
Due to the impact of the epidemic, countries around the world are adjusting their control policies at sea, land and air border ports at any time. Even if the goods are sent out, some partners have responded that they have been intercepted or forcibly returned. The root cause is probably a problem caused by different certification standards and policies of different countries.
What is causing more headaches for cargo owners now is that the goods have been produced but cannot be sent out!
Order crisis
Some foreign traders joked that textile fabrics that have always been shipped by sea are now also Enjoy air transport benefits. Feng Jijiang, the person in charge of Shaoxing Yiwei Textile Company, has just shipped a shipment. The air freight has increased from 12.5 yuan per kilogram two weeks ago to 22 yuan. “Originally, this was shipped by sea at the end of February. In order to rush the delivery, we could only use air transportation. The freight has almost caught up with the price of cloth.”
Feng Jijiang’s situation is almost the same as that of Keqiao’s foreign trade enterprises today. projection. Since March, everyone has been rushing to make orders from the previous year regardless of costs. One is to maintain customer relationships, and the other is to catch up with the fashion season to prevent orders from being canceled and goods becoming inventory. This is the peculiarity of the textile industry, which follows fashion and has distinct seasons.
What people didn’t expect was that just as the domestic epidemic was about to pass, the global epidemic suddenly struck, and most of the countries and regions where Keqiao textiles were exported were also affected by the epidemic.
“When we went to investigate at the end of February, many companies still had a lot of foreign trade orders. But as soon as the global epidemic broke out, they couldn’t sit still.” In the face of the rapidly changing global epidemic, Keqiao has been Tan Ke, director of the District Commerce Bureau, is re-investigating and revising the research report. “Not long after, the forecast analysis at the beginning of the month is no longer applicable.” He told reporters that with the continuous cancellation of orders and the interruption of new orders in the areas hardest hit by the epidemic, the foreign trade situation in the next few months is not optimistic.
For Keqiao, the domestic epidemic has affected the smooth flow of the supply side, and the losses can be expected. The global epidemic has directly affected the demand side, leading to a sharp drop in orders, and the excitement of finally opening up the supply chain has been dashed.
When the reporter met Luo Haiming, chairman of Shaoxing Kaiming Textile Co., Ltd., he had just finished a meeting with his employees: customers must be repeatedly informed of possible risks before taking orders. From now on, they can no longer take uncertain orders.
Luo Haiming’s caution is justified. Kaiming Textile’s export volume last year was about 1.2 billion yuan. Based on the current situation, it is estimated that exports will decrease by at least 300 million yuan this year. Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom account for about 50% of the company’s export market share. Since March 10, a large number of orders have been canceled one after another, and orders have been canceled again, which has had a great impact on the company’s cash flow. Luo Haiming said: “Nowadays, customers are generally afraid to place large orders. For us, taking small orders means rising costs, but this is a helpless choice to control risks and maintain customer relationships.”
For this As far as foreign trade regions are concerned, the impact of foreign epidemics seems to be greater than the domestic epidemic. Last year, there were more than 4,500 foreign buyers based in Keqiao, but now only more than 1,000 have returned. Many foreign businessmen have not heard from them in the commercial buildings rented by them for a long time; international exhibitions may be postponed or canceled; whether the Shanghai Fabric Exhibition will It is unknown whether it will be held as scheduled. For foreign trade companies, the chances of obtaining new orders are greatly reduced.
Most international flights are grounded
Due to epidemic control needs , most or even all international flights in many countries have been grounded.
Affected by the epidemic, the International Air Transport Association recently stated that the global aviation industry may suffer losses of up to US$113 billion due to interruption of travel demand. The Center for Asia Pacific Aviation has warned that the epidemic will push most airlines out of business by May.
According to incomplete statistics released by the official websites of major airlines and news media, more than 20 airlines have suspended all flights across the board. In addition, according to incomplete statistics from the Civil Aviation Resources Network, there are 12 airlines that have only suspended all international routes, including Vietnam Airlines, South African Airways, Avianca, Pakistan Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Qantas, and Virgin Australia, WestJet, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Air Algeria, Malindo Air and Swoop Airlines. Based on this calculation, more than 30 airlines have suspended all international routes.
Flybe, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, declared bankruptcy after unsuccessfully seeking financial support
The Guardian, BBC and others reported that Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, will collapse within a few hours, and at least more than 2,000 jobs will be affected.
On Wednesday night local time, Flybe’s website had stopped working, with an error message appearing when loading saying that the link “no longer exists.”
Despite solid demand for flights from airports such as Heathrow, Flybe has struggled to compete with road and rail on some regional routes.
Nordic Airlinesp>Australia
According to previous reports by The Paper, on March 18, according to Reuters, Australia’s second largest airline Virgin Australia announced on March 18 that due to the government It will suspend all international flights from March 30 to June 14 and reduce its domestic capacity by half due to travel restrictions and reduced demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar Airlines later announced that two-thirds of their employees will temporarily leave their jobs from the end of March to at least the end of May, which means that about 20,000 people will be temporarily absent from their jobs. unemployment. Qantas has suspended all international flights after the Australian federal government announced that all citizens should avoid international travel. Currently, Qantas has more than 150 aircraft temporarily grounded, including its Airbus A380, Boeing 747, 787 and other models.
Philippines
According to Philippine media, on March 24, Philippine Airlines has decided to suspend all international flights from March 26 to April 14.
Luzon Island in the Philippines will implement “enhanced community quarantine” from 0:00 on March 17 until 0:00 on April 13. During this period, large-scale public transportation facilities were suspended, and transportation including highways, aviation, and maritime transportation were restricted.
Algeria
Algerian Prime Minister Gerard’s instructions on March 16 The Ministry of Public Works and Transport of Afghanistan has temporarily suspended flights to and from five Arab countries in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. The five countries are: Tunisia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan. The grounding will begin on March 17, and the specific resumption time will be notified separately. A press release from the Prime Minister’s Office said that the corresponding airlines will be responsible for resettling and repatriating Algerian citizens stranded in these five countries.
Vietnam Airlines
Vietnam Airlines will take effect from March 18, local time Flights between Vietnam and France will be suspended from now on. In addition, the Vietnam Airlines flight to France on the night of March 17 local time was also cancelled. Vietnam Airlines’ flights to and from Malaysia have also been temporarily suspended from March 18 to March 31.
Brazilian GOL Airlines
Brazilian GOL Airlines said that it will All international flights will be suspended from March 23 to June 30.
Austrian Airlines
Since March 18, Austrian Airlines will Scheduled flight operations will be temporarily suspended until March 28.
Air Baltic
Air Baltic will start from March 17 All flights, including international flights, are suspended until mid-April.
Singapore Airlines
On March 23, Singapore Airlines announced that it will Reduce 96% of flight capacity originally planned until the end of April in order to actively respond to the closed border control measures adopted by countries around the world in the past week to control the spread of the new coronavirus.
This decision means that 138 of the 147-aircraft fleet of Singapore Airlines and SilkAir will be grounded. This is a situation that the Singapore Airlines Group has faced since its establishment. biggest challenge.
Scoot, a low-cost airline under the Singapore Airlines Group, will also suspend most of its route network, with 47 aircraft out of its 49-aircraft fleet grounded.
South Africa
According to local South African media news24, South African Airways In a statement released on the evening of March 24, South African Airways announced that it would suspend all its domestic flights in South Africa from March 27, 2020 to April 16, 2020.
On March 23, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his national speech that South Africa will start from 24:00 on March 26 to April 16, 2020. A 21-day nationwide lockdown will be implemented at 24:00. The suspension of flights by South African Airways is in response to the strict control measures in response to the new coronavirus epidemic.
Singapore, Australia, Canada and other seven countries issued a joint statement to ensure unhindered supply chain connectivity
Singapore, Australia, Canada, Brunei, Myanmar, New Zealand, and Chile issued a joint statement today (25th). The COVID-19 epidemic has caused a global public crisis. The seven countries have worked closely together in the face of challenges to ensure supply chain connectivity. Unobstructed.
The seven countries stated in the statement that ensuring the openness of trade lines, including air and sea transport, is in the common interest of all parties. The seven countries will address trade disruptions by affecting the transportation of essential goods.
The statement also affirmed the need to avoid the imposition of export controls, the establishment of tariff and non-tariff barriers, and the lifting of any trade restrictions on essential goods, especially medical supplies.
The 7 countries stated that they will work with all like-minded countries to ensure that trade continues to flow unhindered, ensure that key infrastructure such as airports and ports remain open, and support the viability of global supply chains. Maintain its integrity.
Flights have been reduced, a large amount of anti-epidemic materials need to be exported urgently, and the space shortage is very serious. Even if you have money, you may not be able to book a seat. Next, exports for foreign traders will be difficult. Foreign traders, how are your orders? ? </p
