Impacts of Corona Virus on Shipping Container Sales
The lock downs could have a "major impact on supply chain operations and industrial production" in China across industries such as automotive, pharmaceutical and medical supplies, and high-tech manufacturing, it said in a report.
Logistics company Freightos warned clients to expect delays in getting goods out of China, and consider shifting some shipments from sea to air or even sourcing goods from other countries where possible. The backlog of shipments that typically follows the Lunar New Year will be made worse by the current situation, pushing ocean freight rates up and exacerbating delays, Freightos said. Still more vessels are idling in "floating quarantined zones," as countries such as Australia refuse to allow ships that have called at Chinese ports to enter their own until the crew has been declared virus-free, added Sand. Platten said he knew of at least one crew that is running low on food because their ship has been idled for so long.
In Singapore, authorities are requiring all vessels that have called at ports in mainland China over the past 14 days to submit a health declaration form.
Cargo owners and shipping lines are desperate for a swift resolution that will see chinese factories resume production and start churning out the goods and parts that grease the global supply chain. It is inevitable that world port throughput will suffer a large contraction in 1Q20 but the question is now whether we can expect a v-shaped recovery later this year or something else entirely.
This was our original base forecast until very recently, but the sudden spreading of COVID-19 outside of China has caused us to re-think and adopt a less optimistic position. It remains as a possible scenario because the rise in new non-China cases might prove to be a statistical blip, although that is said more in hope than expectation. There is also a chance that COVID-19 will be contained once the weather turns warmer in the same manner as with seasonal flu.
