Question

whats the influence of corona virus Covid-19 on international shipping?

Answer 1

The rapid spread of coronavirus disease has had a major impact on the worldwide economy. This widespread epidemic has outgrown into the global sphere affecting international tourism, trade and shipping. International shipping industry has been majorly affected amidst this outbreak. Coronavirus has already taken a big toll and has affected the international shipping channels in various ways. There has been a major decline in international trade activities across the globe.

Since, Chinese ports carry out most of the operations, the directs effects of roadblocks were observed due to virus which resulted in a serious economic scenario declining major exports and imports globally. The Chinese ports have observed decrease in port calls leaving the global shipping industry in a serious situation. The container shipping industry also observered major decrease in the ratio of demand and supply and have scaled down their operations.

The entry and exit of ships have already been restricted as a quarantine measure in various important ports and many large logistics shipping operators have paused their services in Chinese regions.

Cargo Backlogs also proved to be a major issue for shipping industries in China. It has been seen that logistics have become a major issue in order to tackle the scenario. The demand and supply from industries are currently at stake since most of the production is halted in the Chinese ecosystem, there has been a drastic drop in demand and supply in the shipping industry.

We have observed the following events happening amidst this outbreak:

Decrease in air freight capacity but soaring rates - We have seen air freight capacity drop to its lowest in past few years and the rates have spiked up to around 26 percent.

International mail slowdown - Flight suspensions have also taken a toll on global postal sevices.

Ships in quarantine - Most of the world's goods are shipped by sea but the marine shipping industry has also taken a hit as demand drops and countries put stringent measures to battle the coronavirus in place.

The United States customs - It has been seen that US customs is not planning to hold air or ocean shipments from China due to the coronavirus.