Customer Advisory Bulletin

Dear Valued Customer,

We continue to report operational constraints related to GEODIS services only when they occur. At our locations not mentioned operations are running as usual as far as we know.

The majority of GEODIS offices across China are operating with normally; our GEODIS Wuhan branch has received the local authority’s greenlight to resume to work at the office. The status of our Chinese offices and warehouses can be found HERE.

GEODIS also provides the latest updates on the operations in our network countries where our agent partners are serving on our behalf, please find the information  HERE.

In France, Distribution & Express guarantees on a daily basis the best business continuity to its customers, and this while maintaining its usual offer and level of service.
In particular, D&E offers to its customers its solutions of "click & collect " and "ship from store". This is a way for local businesses affected by administrative closures to maintain an elementof their business.
 
However, there is an absolute necessity for customers to verify before sending that the recipient can receive their goods. To assist with this we request that recipients affix this poster to their shop window, storefront or access portal (French version HERE) (UK version HERE). This will help delivery drivers to identify open recipients, including those who are closed to the public but open to receiving packages.
 
Likewise, the handling of the shipments to individuals must be done in strict compliance with our usual B2C handling conditions (HERE).
 
The only change to our continuity of service is how the signature of the consignee for the POD (proof of delivery) is collected. In accordance with the decrees, and in order to protect our drivers and consignees, we have implemented a “contactless delivery” procedure, to avoid contact and to comply with barrier and distance measures. On this subject, we inform you that our employees and especially our drivers are provided with masks, individual soap and hydroalcoholic gel.

Road Transport in France continues to mobilize its resources to the highest level of efficiency possible to fulfil customer demand. Our aim is to learn how you are preparing for the  progressive restart and to understand  what is important on your markets and in your countries, in the context of even shorter term visibility which will remain a challenge.We are here to share and exchange analysis of the situation, including your short and medium term projections. In this way we hope to provide solutions that will mix capacity and flexibility, and in the same time a guarantee that sanitary rules in force will be strictly respected. For this reason, we have secured a regular delivery of masks and sanitary products to our drivers. We are also working closely with our main transport partners to ensure they can also achieve their missions safely. Contact your local GEODIS office who will be able to rapidly respond to your requirements.

Freight Forwarding activities continue to operate adequately globally. As the GEODIS workforce has transitioned to a remote working environment in most countries around the world, CCL (Cargo Container Lines) Original Bills of Lading, as well as import and export shipments, may not be handled as promptly as expected in most of our European branches. We recommend that you use Express CCL or ask your suppliers at origin to Telex Release the documents through a  local GEODIS office. We remind you that transport documents are available via your Real-Time Information System (IRIS) account through which you can also perform online bookings.

The Contract Logistics Line of Business continues to operate in all GEODIS countries with increased security measures in our warehouses. All employees follow the reccommended preventive measures (frequent handwashing, one-meter distance between co-workers) and our facilities are thoroughly deep cleaned on a daily basis. In addition, activities in healthcare and food warehouses are geared up to ensure efficient delivery in all countries.


In several countries we have started to implement further remote working options for our employees. So far this is not impacting our operational capacity and you can expect to be served as usual.

All our previous updates are available on our website HERE.

• GERMANY
  There is a second lockdown period effective until end November.  Borders for commercial transport are open. Part of the drive limitations in Germany for Sundays are reversed. All truck drivers that come back from other countries must go into a 72 hours quarantine - trucking and inland water transport companies struggle with this rule in order to have the drivers they need.
   
• ROMANIA
  For airfreight services, imports from China are being received in  partialshipments sent from AMS and FRA to BUH and because of this there are one week delays for delivery to the final customer. For Ocean freight services there is a lack of space and capacity for the imports from Asia and this has lead to some delay on ocean freight services. For road transport international, trucks from Turkey to Romania spend 48 hours at the border between Turkey and Bulgaria so some delays in transit time are expected.
   
• TURKEY
  Second wave of Covid- 19 is still effecting the marketplace. Besides long-term contracts, spot market FTL  
  
  You can also find the latest updates on Americas  HERE.

AIR FREIGHT

• Shanghai Pudong Airport: COVID-19 cases detected
  PVG airport terminals have resumed general services and operations after a short shutdown instructed by the local authority at the beginning of this week.
  
  The impact to PVG on 24th November:
  -Customs activities are still suspended until further notice
  -2-3 hours delay is expected for inbound cargo
  -Terminal temporarily stopped service for 24hrs cooling off, meaning overweight or off-sized shipments which are in need of a 24hrs security guarantee are not accepted until further notice.
  
  Flight Cancellation and Delay ex PVG:
  -47% of planned outbound and 48% inbound passenger flights were canceled on 24th November
  -UPS canceled all inbound & outbound flights until further notice.
  -Air China flights with ETD on 23rd and 24th November are delayed to 25th November (both inbound & outbound)
  
  Prevention and control measurements at PVG:
  -All aircrafts & Unit Load Devices will be cleaned & disinfected  when inbound at PVG airport
  -From 25th November, 8:00am local time, all staff are asked to provide test report for the nucleic acid (report negative) and the healthy code at the entry into terminal.

• Reefer surcharge in Tianjin, China. 
  Carriers, including CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co., are imposing congestion surcharges on reefer cargoes into Tianjin’s Xingang port in northern China due to tougher customs inspections on frozen food to prevent COVID-19 infections. CMA CGM said its $1,250 surcharge will apply to worldwide reefer shipments to Tianjin, including from the US, while MSC said a $1,500-per-container surcharge would be levied on reefer shipments from Europe.
  
  Tianjin is the main gateway port for the Chinese capital, Beijing, and one of China’s top cold chain centers.
  
  Hapag-Lloyd told customers in an advisory on Thursday it was offering four options for the discharge of their containers due to congestion in Tianjin. These included discharge in Tianjin if the situation allowed, diversion to other Chinese ports, or the return of boxes to the original load port. This is creating a severe shortage of reefer plugs at the terminal, resulting in the postponement of vessel berthing schedules. That has severely impacted all related inbound operations and container pickup activities, the carrier said.
   
• Port congestion in UK
  UK container imports offloaded at Antwerp, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge could be stranded for weeks before they can be relayed back, potentially missing out on the Christmas market. Ships diverted from the heavily congested hub ports of Felixstowe, Southampton and London Gateway have mostly discharged their UK imports at the Benelux ports, but now carriers are struggling with their relay options.
  
  Moreover, Antwerp and Rotterdam are reported to be “very full” across all of their box terminals, and the carriers are now considering other options such as Le Havre and Bremerhaven that could see the delays extended well into next year, according to The Load Star. 
   
• OOCL - Container Retention Surcharge
  Container Retention Surcharge North Europe – United States. In view of increasing costs for equipment supply to Europe and to improve pipeline supply for USA exports, OOCL will introduce a Container Retention Surcharge (ERF) of $300/500 per 20’/40’ & 45’ dry container for shipments between North Europe and the United States only, effective December 20th , 2020.

• Shanghai to Amsterdam with a scheduled departure on 7 June 2020

Please reach out to your GEODIS contacts for more information. 

The GEODIS road network (GRN) offers scheduled departures for consignments along the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok axis, with multimodal gateway services beyond these hubs.

The scheduled service hubs at Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Bangkok.

For more information, please read HERE.

• Storing full import / export containers “off-dock” to avoid high demurrage charges on quay, at carriers’ container terminals.
   
• Finding suitable secure container storage facilities close to the receiver’s premises, where possible, to ensure quick delivery once required.
   
• Unloading of containers and warehousing of cargo for temporary storage.
   
• Solutions through vessel operators to delay shipments in transit or to arrange storage at designated locations.

Market Information:

AIR FREIGHT:

Cargo capacity stays tight as some passenger flights are back on the runway
Passenger aircraft are coming back into the market – in some regions – but capacity in Europe remains tight.

However, widebody passenger capacity between Asia and Europe rose 16% in weeks 44 and 45, according to Accenture Seabury data, released this morning. Freighter operators, meanwhile, withdrew capacity from Latin America, adding instead 5% between Europe and Asia.

Asia-Pacific to the Middle East also saw a double-digit rise in passenger capacity, up 15%, and between Asia Pacific and North America, passenger capacity also rose, but at a more muted rate, up 6%, and up 8% on the reverse lane. The biggest loss of capacity was in Latin America, where passenger capacity to and from north America fell 21% and 22% respectively, while freighter traffic fell 7%.

Some 12% of passenger capacity between Europe and Latin America was withdrawn, alongside a whopping 30% decrease in freighters. But on the reverse route, there was a 3% rise in freighter capacity.

Chargeable weight from Latin America dropped some 20% in week 44, according to Clive Data Services, while load factors were 74% – but they fell to just 66% in week 46, suggesting fewer exports by air, which could explain the withdrawal of capacity.

Source: Seabury/Accenture

The consultant also examined stored aircraft, of which 58% are narrow-bodies, while there are very few freighters remaining in storage.
The capacity data was revealed as the TAC Index shows rates largely flat during the period reported by Seabury. But now, rates on some lanes are beginning to rise again, with China-Europe edging up, and EU-US jumping significantly. There were declines on US-EU, however, as well as on China-US.

Air cargo bounce back slackens in early November.
Air cargo's steady recovery in recent months showed signs of slackening in the first half of November, a tell-tale sign being that yields/rates from China dropped for the first time in many weeks, the latest data from WorldACD shows. 
Worldwide, the kilograms transported in the period 1-15 November (H-1 Nov) stood at 48% of the total for the whole of October (from Asia Pacific 51%, Europe and North America 47%, Central and South America 46%, Middle East & South Asia (MESA) 44%, and Africa 42%), it noted.

On the China-Asia Pacific trade lane rates decreased by 9.5% (to US$ 2.20/kilo), fell by 0.9% from  China to Europe (to US$ 5.08/kilo) and shed 6% on China-North America routes (to US$ 5.93/kilo).
 
The average load factors were slightly lower in H-1 Nov than in October. We did not see a WoW change in last week’s (second week of November) data, except for the load factors ex-Europe which went up by more than 1.5 percentage points. As for the key takeaways from the market last month, volumes were “only” 11% below October 2019, but 8% above September 2020.

OCEAN  FREIGHT:

Container shortage
New York — Containership owners have nominated further surcharges and rate increases for Asia-to-Europe routes in the final weeks of the year as a shortage of boxes in Asia outpaces the slowdown in export shipments.

France's CMA CGM announced on Nov. 10 a $600/FEU "peak season surcharge" to take effect from Nov. 15 for shipments from all Asian ports to all destinations in the Mediterranean Sea. German shipowner Hapag-Lloyd was even more expansive in its general rate increase announcement for Dec. 1, nominating rate hikes for sailings from East Asia (excluding Japan) of $5,190/FEU to the UK, $4,710/FEU to the West Mediterranean and $4,690/FEU to North Continent. Platts Container Rates for these routes were assessed on Nov. 10 at $2,100/FEU, $2,250/FEU and $2,050/FEU, respectively. 
The sharp increase of the December GRI reflects many of the fees already being applied for shippers to prioritize their export cargoes for Asia to Europe and North America, essentially guaranteeing on-time loading and delivery amid an increasingly severe shortage of containers at Asian ports as end-of-year holiday restocking continues. Containers have been piling up for months at destinations in Europe and North America as ports abide social distancing protocols related to the coronavirus pandemic, limiting the number of port workers that can be deployed to clear the backlog, based on information from S&P Global Platts.

For the latest statistics on Coronavirus situation, please refer to the link HERE.

You can also find the latest of these bulletins on LinkedIn, twitter or Facebook. Kindly note that additional access to these bulletins has been added to GEODIS' Intelligent Real-Time Information System (IRIS) as well.
 
Please rest assured that we will keep you updated of any changes to the current situation. Should you have any concern and/or queries, please feel free to contact your GEODIS Local Representative.

Sincerely Yours,
GEODIS Management Team