Since the Coronavirus outbreak the shipping industry has taken a substantial hit, exports and imports have slowed meaning knock on effects felt globally on ports near and far. Transportation costs have dropped to their lowest since 2016.
Global container shipping company Maersk is one of the latest to warn about the financial impact the coronavirus spread is set to have on the industry. The Danish firm handles one in five containers shipped by sea, forecasts a weak start to the year. Saying it is still early days to measure an overall impact on the industry, they have said that vessel calls at Chinese ports have decreased since last year during the same winter period. Freight rates could decrease too because of a lower demand of containerised goods transport.
Factories are remaining closed for longer than usual after the Chinese New Year holiday, other large industrial centres are in quarantine and ships are being turned away from ports with travel restrictions put in place to try to control the spread of the virus. Crews have been stuck on board ships at Chinese shipyards or ports because of such strict quarantine rules on vessels coming from China, some even getting to the point of running out of food.
China is one of the biggest suppliers worldwide and is important for everything shipping related, there is no doubt that the decrease in demand for transporting goods in and out of China will have lasting effects on the shipping industry for months to come. Optimists in the industry are hopeful that once the virus has been successfully contained the industry will ‘bounce back’ but no one can really give an exact time frame or prediction of what is to come, it’s just a waiting game for everyone to see what happens next.
A&S Recruitment is taking the philosophy of Benjamin Franklin “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” so working hard behind the scenes preparing for the sudden spike in volumes as they occur, keeping in close contact with our workforce and supporting them through this difficult time.
However, exciting times ahead, as we have the launch of our new internal recruitment software and client portal coupled with requests from clients to support them with payroll services and training services in preparation for Brexit so watch this space for further details coming soon……
