As the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) continues to intensify, global logistics major Kuehne + Nagel (K+N) announced last week that the region’s supply chain networks were showing the first signs of an economic downturn since the start of the outbreak.
The company said that although its European offices had remained open, the outbreak of the virus had already had a huge impact on the region’s supply chain networks with further delays and disruptions expected over the coming weeks and months.
“With more and more governments issuing new measures, the situation in Europe is evolving very rapidly,” a spokesman said. “Even though our network and all our offices across Europe are operating, we are experiencing serious delays at several European borders due to increased health and safety measures.”
As more and more countries impose travel bans to help contain the spread of the virus, freight forwarders now have limitations and restrictions when trying to transport goods.
From a shipping perspective, K+N said that even though cargo operations were ongoing, the continued blank sailings, particularly from Asia, as well as the situation at border posts and sea ports, were having a noticeable impact on the European logistics business. - Bjorn Vorster
