Spread of the coronavirus

The spread of the coronavirus has occupied us for several weeks. At this point we would like to give you an overview of how we currently assess the situation in the sea and air freight sector.

Sea freight
In recent weeks, the flow of exports has been interrupted by the Chinese New Year and the spread of the coronavirus. As a result, not only is every port in China heavily overcrowded, but ultimately there is a lack of new container capacity.

However, the capacity bottleneck does not only affect Chinese ports, but also puts pressure on the global sea freight business. As the demand for container capacities collapsed, shipping companies reacted with so-called 'blank sailings'. This meant that connections to and from Europe, North and South America were cancelled. According to initial calculations, the loss of container capacity caused by the cancellation of liner services amounts to approx. 1.7 million TEU. Due to the fact that very few goods are currently coming to Germany from China, empty equipment will become scarce in Germany. The same can also apply to freight from/to Asia and North America.

Some shipping companies are already reacting to the changed market situation with an Emergency Peak Season Surcharge for shipments from Europe to Asia, thereby increasing export rates enormously. In order to correct the imbalance of container capacities in China, an attempt is now being made to restore the balance with container capacities from all parts of the world. This redistribution will lead to capacity and equipment shortages for many other tradelanes and routes.

Key Facts

• Lack of capacity and container equipment for export and import shipments
• Emergency Surcharge already announced, further surcharges to follow
• Early bookings and planning absolutely necessary

Air freight
Many airlines were also struggling with the weeks of cargo cancellations. Nevertheless, all airlines have now reacted quickly and increased their weekly services again.

Many cargo planes are currently flying to the affected Chinese regions with urgently needed medical products. The demand for cargo capacity is therefore high and will increase in the coming weeks. This applies both to exports to and imports from China.


Key Facts

• Discontinuation of many passenger aircraft leads to lack of cargo space
• Cargo space and capacities still scarce - air freight costs are rising enormously

For both modes of transport, deadlines and pick ups must be closely coordinated with us.


You need further information on this topic?
Our sales consultants will be happy to answer any further questions on this topic and support you in your logistics planning.