The transport of goods in China is slowly starting up again after a strong relapse due to the corona virus. Chinese ports and air freight traffic show the first signs of improvement, according to Evofenedex, but according to the Dutch business association it is still too early to speak of recovery.
“We see some slight improvement, but no recovery yet,” says Rogier Spoel, from Evofenedex. Air freight traffic is increasing slightly and the ports in China are slowly recovering. “China is going to turn again, but that does not alter the fact that we will see enormous disruptions in the coming weeks”, says Spoel.
Immediately on board
Ports are lagging behind, partly because there are too few drivers available while port terminals are full of containers. As a result, few containers can be added. The port of Shanghai will solve this problem by placing containers from the truck directly on board ships and vice versa. Other ports in the region are considering doing the same. Normally, containers are loaded and unloaded from the quay and often stored there.
Aviation is therefore slowly starting to move again. Because of the corona virus, that market is 80 percent declined and the number of cargo flights had fallen considerably. The number of direct flights between China and Europe is now increasing again.
Ripple effect
“That does not alter the fact that there will indeed be a shortage of goods. Ships have not departed,” says Spoel. “They will sail less to Rotterdam in the coming weeks. They will arrive later and can only take a limited number of goods with them.” It takes a while before the time comes. Spoel speaks of a ‘wrinkle effect’ with a delay of six weeks.
The production capacity in China is not yet back to 100 percent. In factories of computer components, for example, this is due to quarantine and hygiene measures. Spoel expects that at the earliest everything will be back to normal by the summer. Then the logistics in China will probably have eliminated the major backlogs.
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