Ports and forwarders overstretched
Although freight traffic is less affected by the impact of Covid-19 than passenger traffic, major problems do arise. In many ports, warehouses are reaching the end of their capacity, because goods destined for Europe remain in Asia for the time being. This poses a great challenge for both forwarders and terminal operators.
For example, the port of Manila is already overstretched. The port authority announced that it will use the Manila north harbour for foreign containers to take pressure off the Manila international container terminal. But it also urged owners of containers to take them back out the port.
The British forwarder RW Freight reported that customs authorities in China have required that all containers that were loaded onto vessels after 27 March must be unloaded again, because of lockdowns and quarantines imposed by the countries of destination. (mw)