Logistics companies are still dealing with delays and backlogs following the hard lockdown of the country in March this year.In addition, costs have increased as companies have had to find new and innovative ways to operate while complying with increased sanitisation processes and the implementation of personal protective equipment (PPE).
According to Giel Coetzee, regional manager logistics Johannesburg for MSC Logistics, Covid-19 has been a big challenge which has affected logistics in a variety of ways.
“During the hard lockdown all essential cargo had to be transported and delivered while non-essential cargo had to be stored,” he said. This resulted in major delays in the supply chain, which were addressed to some extent when the lockdown was slightly eased and the government allowed non-essential cargo to be delivered.
“In most countries around the world the quarantine policies impacted on manufacturing, thus causing a decrease in import volumes post lockdown,” he said. “The after effects of Covid-19 have also caused an imbalance between imports and exports which in turn affects the turnaround of vehicles.”
Coetzee said reducing operational costs remained a focus in light of increased costs introduced into operations by the pandemic. “More money is being spent on safety, sanitisation, and PPE.
Companies, in general, are having to change the way they operate and introduce new operational procedures.”He said the industry remained hopeful that the lockdown would be reduced even more, allowing for a slight recovery toward the end of the year.“Currently, the focus will be on recovering losses incurred due to Covid-19, and we hope that most businesses will increase volumes in the latter part of the year to create an opportunity for recovery,” said Coetzee.
“Covid-19 has resulted in many companies thinking out of the box about how we do things in the logistics industry and how operational costs can be cut without jeopardising the service offered to client s.
