Customer Advisory Bulletin

Latest Customer Advisory Bulletin

Update: 27 May 2020

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, the lifting of the lockdown begins on the 11 of May. This means the resumption of activity for a large number of companies, and for D&E, the gradual return to operational levels aligned as closely as possible to the pace of this recovery.D&E is working to gradually ramp up its resources, in order to allow its express offer to return to normal by June 2. This represents at this deadline, the reinstallation of the essentials:
- Twice daily delivery
- Saturday morning delivery
- top H
- LAO (delivery before opening)
- commitment to express deadlines

D&E restarts on this same date of June 2, the "On Demand" offer and the associated recipient notifications.
The same is true for live animals: restarting of all traffic of live animals from June 2, but with departures only from Monday to Wednesday. The reopening of departures on Thursday will be effective from August 31.
The other temporary adjustments to the D&E commercial offer have been lifted as of Monday the 11 of May:
- C.O.D. deliveries
- Swap deliveries
- Deposits and collections of goods at our docks for any kind of consignee including private individuals

Concerning individuals, D&E continues to provide delivery to individuals, excluding departments 67, 68 and 90.More than ever, the management of these flows to the individual must be done in strict compliance with the usual B2C support conditions HERE.
All our deliveries, both private and business, continue to be carried out in compliance with our contactless delivery procedure, in order to guarantee the safety of our employees, our clients and the consignees.
The absolute necessity for our shippers is to verify before sending, that their recipients are able to receive their goods. D&E hope, like its clients, that this economic recovery will be fast, and reaffirm that our mission "to help you succeed by overcoming logistical constraints" is more important to us than ever.

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.

Regulatory Updates from Local Authorities

China: 21 MAY, China 2020 NPC&CPPCC National Committee sessions (“2 Session”) opened in Beijing after being postponed due to COVID-19. National lawmakers and political advisors will discuss how to strive for good performances in all areas of economic and social development while implementing regular epidemic prevention and control measures.
Germany: The German government wants to lift the worldwide travel warning for tourists for 31 European countries from 15 June , if the coronavirus situation continues to improve within Europe.
Colombia:Through decree 689, The Government made official the national quarantine until 31 May 2020 (12:00 p.m.).

You can also find the latest updates on Americas HERE.

GEODIS AirDirect Service Between Europe - USA

The U.S. government issued a 30-day ban on travel from Europe and The United Kingdom which will have a significant impact on the movement of trans-Atlantic cargo. GEODIS offers regular flights per week, roundtrip charter flights for cargo between Europe and the United States using the optimal gateways. This new service will connect USA Gateways via Chicago to Liege, Belgium with connecting service to European Gateways. Book now!

Liege to Chicago/New York

Liege to Chicago
Departure scheduled on 29 May 2020

Chicago/New York to Liege

New York to Liege
Departure scheduled on 30 May 2020

GEODIS AirDirect Services Between Asia – Europe - US and AirDirect Mexico

We have established charter solutions to secure the capacity required by our customers for shipments between China & Europe. The next available flights with remaining capacity are:

Liege to Shanghai with a scheduled departure on 31 May 2020
Shanghai to Liege with a scheduled departure on 28 and 31 May 2020
Xiamen to Paris(CDG) with a scheduled departure on 26 May and 1 June 2020
Hong Kong to Los Angeles with a scheduled departure on 26 May 2020

Please reach out to your GEODIS contacts for more information.

GEODIS AirDirect Europe to Australia / New Zealand

GEODIS is extending the charter solutions to secure the required capacity for our customers for shipments from Europe via Frankfurt gateway and to Australia via Hong Kong. The flights will be twice a week:

Frankfurt to Hong Kong Thursdays with an onward journey from Hong Kong to Sydney Fridays arriving Saturdays
Frankfurt to Hong Kong Sundays with an onward journey from Hong Kong to Sydney Mondays arriving Tuesdays

For further info on this service, please view it on the flyer HERE. Please reach out to your GEODIS contacts for more information.

GEODIS Ocean Solution for Shipments in Transit

We realize that extended lockdowns and temporary company closures, in a variety of countries worldwide, are creating challenges to get your goods delivered to their final destinations. Our teams are here to help you with all your individual logistical requirements. While we continue to maintain the safety of our colleagues against infection, we are working very hard to find suitable solutions for your goods in the most cost-effective manner, which include options below:

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.

Please engage your contacts at GEODIS to better understand which solutions are the best options for your business, before your shipments arrive.

GEODIS Rail Solution China - Europe

We have also set up additional block train services between China and Europe to support the dispatch of urgent shipments. Details of the rail solutions between China and Europe with schedules and routes are as follow:

Standard Solution:

Xi´an to Hamburg or Duisburg, via Małaszewicze with approx. 18-day transit time, terminal to terminal for FCL shipments. Planned departures every Monday.
Hamburg or Duisburg to Xi’an, via Małaszewicze with approx. 18-day transit time, terminal to terminal for FCL shipments. Planned departures every Wednesday.
Chongqing into Duisburg, via Małaszewicze with approx. 18-day transit time, terminal to terminal for LCL shipments. Planned departures every Sunday.
Chongqing into Małaszewicze, with approx. 14-day transit time for LCL shipments. Planned departures every Friday.
Duisburg into Chongqing, via Małaszewicze with approx. 18-day transit time for LCL shipments. Planned departures every Saturday.

Express Solution:

Xi’an to Hamburg via Mukran with approx. 12-day transit time, terminal to terminal for FCL & LCL shipments. Planned departures every Wednesday.
Hamburg to Xi’an via Mukran with approx. 12-day transit time, terminal to terminal for FCL & LCL shipments. Planned departures every Monday.

For bookings and more information, please contact your GEODIS representatives.

Market Outlook:

AIR FREIGHT PRICING TREND CHINA TO EUROPE, CHINA TO US YOY

This crisis has of course a strong impact on pricing to/from China, from Hong Kong and to/from USA/Europe, HERE.

Source: The TAC Index, published 25 May 2020

Shipper and forwarders planning their container shipment bookings for the third quarter can expect a new wave of blanking announcements over the next two-to-three weeks. While the second quarter of the year was characterised by a wave of cancelled sailings, there have, so far, been relatively few announced for the third quarter, according to eeSea data.
During July, there are some 235 headhaul sailings scheduled for the Asia-North Europe and transpacific trades, with just five blanked so far. In comparison, May saw 245 sailings and 51 cancellations, and June saw 223 sailings and 28 blanks. However, SeaIntelligence Consulting founder Lars Jensen told a TOC Events webinar this morning that shippers could expect more blankings for July unveiled soon. “July is now just five weeks away and that’s typically when the first bookings for those sailings would be made, so I would expect carriers to announce blank sailings in the next two or three weeks – not necessarily for all of the third quarter, but certainly July.”
Last week saw some sailings on the transpacific trade "unblanked” however, Mr Jensen cautioned: “We are beginning to see unblanking, but I do not believe this is sign that demand is returning. What this is a sign of is that the enormous amount of capacity withdrawals was slightly overdone It is not a sign of strong demand, but rather shows that the carriers would rather blank too much than too little.” He explained that blank sailings had proved to be carriers’ only way of maintaining revenue and that, should the industry suffer a freight rate drop in line with the demand decline, the financial disaster would be magnified.

Source, The Loadstar, 26 May

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

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