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, 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.

• Colombia: From today July 1st, domestic flights can start a pilot test according to the biosafety protocol gave by the Government.
   
• Denmark: As of the 27 June it is allowed to travel to all European countries, UK and Schengen countries, except Portugal and Sweden. 
   
• Hong Kong:  HK discusses easing travel: the governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong are considering the launch of a pilot scheme to relax the cross-boundary flow of people between the two places within certain limits.  The COVID-19 outbreak in Guangdong Province has relatively subsided and the move would facilitate people who need to travel between Guangdong and Hong Kong. 
   
• Korea: Sailing schedules have returned back to normal except to North America & Australia. Due to the increase in shipments from China and the influence of blank sailing on the KRNA lane, all carriers have given notice to impose a GRI(General rate increase) since the middle of June and will increase again  in July.  Busan port:  Overall terminal yard runs tight. Related to airfreight there is a severe imbalance between capacity and demand, this has been alleviated for destinations to which K-brand PPE is being exported.  All cargoes are moving as per ad hoc booking process, alongside Ad hoc pricing. However, purchasing levels for EU major destinations is in steep decline whilst transpacific purchase shows only small decrease.
   
• Japan : Travel resumes between Japan and Vietnam as the first country to ease restrictions after the emergency status.
   
• Singapore: A green lane and periodic commuting arrangement will be established between Singapore and Malaysia to meet the needs of different groups of cross-border travelers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced yesterday. The Reciprocal Green Lane will facilitate cross-border travel for essential business and official purposes between both countries.
   
• Sweden: The advice against travel to countries outside the EU, the EEA and the Schengen area, has been extended until 31 August, and the the advice against travel to a number of countries in the EU, the EEA and the Schengen area has been removed as of 30 June.  Also on 30 June, the advice against non-essential travel to the following countries was  removed: Belgium, Croatia, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. For other countries in the EU, the EEA and the Schengen area, the advice against travel remains in place until 15 July.
   
• Vietnam: Vietnam is holding talks aimed at easing the entry of citizens from China, South Korea and Japan into the country after restrictions on foreign visitors amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hanf said in a statement that the resumption of travel must be based on strict disease prevention measures.  Hang said Vietnam intended to initially ease entry for business visitors and skilled personnel returning to work in Vietnam, adding that Vietnamese should also be able to work in these countries.
  
  You can also find the latest updates on Americas  HERE.

AIR FREIGHT

• Delta Cargo has embargoed all products origin, transfer and destination Chicago O'Hare (ORD) effective immediately until further notice this week. Dispatch of inbound and outbound trucks will also be unavailable during this time. Impacted customers will be notified.
• 
  Only westbound charter flights from London Heathrow (LHR) and westbound flights from/eastbound flights to Frankfurt (FRA) are exempt from the embargo. Freight will be stored in the warehouse and processed after operations have restarted. Customers will be directly notified when shipment pickup is available. All ORD storage fees will be waived from June 29 through restart date.
   
• Air France /KLM offers adjusted capacity that consists of:
  • Scheduled wide-body belly services
  • Scheduled full freighter services
  • Chartered wide-body belly & full freighter options
  • European narrow-body belly services
     
• AFKLMP Cargo has been adapting its network and flight schedule and since end-March to the present time, they are still operating a significantly reduced schedule. As from the beginning of June, they are we gradually resuming flights by adding destinations and by increasing the number of flight frequencies. All the current flight schedules can be found  HERE.
   
• Lufthansa announced the ramp up plan for belly capacity, HERE, as well as latest freighter connection schedules: HERE.
   

• Global Port Restrictions: Due to changes implemented by governments over the last few days, there are further port restrictions around the globe. You can find all the updates HERE.
   
• Maersk will make 2 suspensions on the ME1 service in week 30 and 32 sailing from Europe. The service will run in standard rotation in between. The port calls on the ME1 service will be covered on other services in the network. The suspended ME1 vessel detaills  HERE.

• Felixstowe: Covered on AE1: Maersk Essen 030E and MSC Isabella 032E
• Antwerp: Covered on AE7: Evelyn Maersk 030E and Elly Maersk 020E
• Hamburg: Covered on AE7: Evelyn Maersk 030E and Elly Maersk 020E
• Bremerhaven: Covered on AE1 and AE5: AE1 Maersk Essen 030E/Munkebo Maersk and MSC Isabella 032E/Manila Maersk
• Wilhelmshaven: Transferred to next sailing
• Rotterdam: Covered on AE1: Maersk Essen 030E and MSC Isabella 032E

• Antwerp – Jeddah 18 days
• Bremerhaven – Jeddah 17 days
• Rotterdam – Jeddah 18 days
• Felixstowe – Jeddah 24 days with alternative London Gateway AE7 or transferred to the next vessel
   
• Additionally, Maersk made reductions in Far East Asia, Indian Subcontinent and Pakistan. The Impacted Trade: Far East Asia to/from Indian Subcontinent and Pakistan, HERE.
   
• ONE will further expand its China-Southeast Asia network by introducing China Thailand Service (CTS) and the revamped Thailand Philippines Service (TP2). The services will add direct sailings between China and South east Asia, namely Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The first sailing of the CTS will be the KMTC LAEM CHABANG 2010S arriving Shanghai on 24th July 2020, and for the TP2 will be SITC INCHON 2029N/2030S arriving Laem Chabang on 4th July. The CTS rotation is as follows: Shanghai (WGQ) – Ningbo – Xiamen – LaemChabang – Bangkok – Laem Chabang – Hong Kong – Shanghai Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd. 7 Straits View, Marina One East Tower #16-01/03 and 17-01/06 Singapore 018936. The TP2 rotation is as follows: HCMC (Cat Lai) – Laem Chabang – Batangas – Manila (Northport) – Nansha – Shekou – Haiphong – HCMC.
   
• MSC intends to prolong its transatlantic network seasonal blank sailing programme, in line with market demand across Europe and the USA. The temporary suspension of the NEUATL4 service will be extended until  week 36, resulting in the blanking of all voyages on this service up to and including voyage 036W which was scheduled to depart Antwerp on 31 August.

• 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.

• 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.
   

• 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.

Market Information:

Source: The TAC Index, published 29 June 202

Asia-Europe spot prices climbed again last week as demand in Europe continues to recover in a container shipping market with still constrained capacity, taking average global prices to their highest level since 2015, Drewry analysis reveals.

On the transpacific trade, after several weeks of gains, Shanghai to Los Angeles spot rates fell 9%, although they remain 68% higher than a year ago. And after strong gains last week, Shanghai to New York average spot rates were flat last week, 30% higher than a year ago.

Freight rates on Rotterdam to Shanghai nudged up by 1%. However, rates on transatlantic routes declined last week, with prices from Rotterdam to New York dwindling 5% for a 40ft box. Similarly, New York to Rotterdam average prices dropped 2% per 40ft container.

COVID-19 takes its toll on charter rates:  Time charter rates for container vessels have been significantly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, having dropped by up to 50% depending on vessel sizes since the epidemic expanded globally, according to the Alphaliner.
 
One the Air Freight side, Global air cargo capacity declined 26% last week compared to last year; North America – Latin America decreases by only 7%; Transpacific Eastbound capacity grows 2% compared to last year; Europe – Asia capacity declines by 23%, based on the information published by Seabury. Europe – Latin America capacity is still 75% lower than last year.
Belly and freighter capacity shows almost no change compared to last week.

Airline freighters added the most capacity on a week-onr-week basis, with +6k tonnes; while widebody belly cargo capacity increased +3k tonnes.

Passenger freighters out of China have decreased 30% since mid-May while freighter capacity has been stable, compared against mid-May it shows a slight decline of 5%; Passenger freighter capacity decline is concentrated in PVG, PEK and CAN.
USA is the country with the highest absolute decrease in year-over-year capacity while ANC is the airport with the highest increase in capacity, other large airports, such as, JFK, LAX and IAH have seen strong decreases in capacity.
Over 70% of air trade from Asia Pacific to USA now originates from China. Japan is one of the countries with the strongest decline, with almost 14 p.p. lost in market share. 

Source: Alphaliner, Drewry and Lloyd Loading List, Seabury and The Tac Ondex, 29 June 2020

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