Holding a partial party
Lamprecht Transport’s 75th anniversary and the passing on of the baton from the third to the fourth generation are taking place in turbulent times. Christian Doepgen strictly kept his 2 m of distance from Thomas Lamprecht and Jenny Vargas-Lamprecht in their office in Basel.
How has the pandemic hit you?
The same as everybody else! Lamprecht needed to make very rapid adjustments too. When airfreight capacities started to decline rapidly from the second half of March onwards, we managed to compensate for them immediately. Once alternative routes via the UK closed down too, we started using express maritime services.
How is traffic running now?
Things are developing in a very varied way. Europe is in full flow, Far Eastern activities are stronger than before – and US business has collapsed.
Has demand for Lamprecht Pharma Logistics risen?
Yes indeed, business has in fact grown strongly for our pharmaceuticals transportation subsidiary. It’s all hands on deck there; we need more people and are continuously training them.
Has the crisis slowed airfreight down?
We’re managing to maintain shipments at stable levels, even if airfreight prices are exploding on account of low capacities – CHF 2 to 12 / kg, for example.
What about component supplies?
Declining medical imports from supplier countries such as India or China haven’t had an impact on us (yet).
How are global exports, for example to China, developing?
Demand is at a very high level. Happily many destinations, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, amongst others, never closed down completely. We’ve also observed some partially very drastic repercussions in the USA – all flights to and from San Francisco were terminated at one fell stroke, for example.
How is cargo processing holding up?
There are some delays, of course, especially concerning sensitive goods. Getting 7,500 face masks cleared through customs in China took more than a week, for example. We can manage, nevertheless.