International transportation under quarantine conditions

Many European countries, due to the coronavirus pandemic, introduced strict quarantine and completely closed their borders, limiting the transportation of even transit goods through their country. Over time, almost all states removed such restrictions, but now again a new wave is being observed, due to the situation in the field international cargo transportation remains unstable.

How did the pandemic affect the market of international cargo transportation?

Reduction in the number of orders delivery of goods from Europe to Ukraine and in the opposite direction – this is only part of the problem. At the same time, the risk of getting infected with COVID-19, as well as being put under observation, has increased for drivers. This made it much more difficult to find a driver. First of all, this affected small carriers and small logistics companies.

Due to the outbreak of the disease in Ukraine, as well as in the USA, Brazil, India and most European countries, a decrease in the total volume of international cargo transportation is predicted, somewhere in the range of 30-40%. According to statistical data provided by specialists of the cargo-transport company Grand Logistics Company, and compiled on the basis of the analysis of activity during the period of previous strict quarantine restrictions, depending on the type of cargo transportation, this indicator may change somewhat. In particular, the industry was the most sensitive to changes air transportation, the demand for which has fallen significantly. In second place - delivery of goods by road transport. There were also quite serious problems transportation of goods by sea, - primarily from China. It is explained by the fact that large batches of production were blocked on the territory of the country. Another problem faced by the logistics industry is the shortage of returnable containers (returnable containers).

Quarantine restrictions affected rail freight transportation the least, where a temporary decrease in the volume of transported cargo was observed, approximately by 4%. At the same time, the conditions for freight trains have improved, as passenger transportation has decreased significantly. Among the positive points, it should be noted the desire of logistics companies to reduce costs as much as possible due to optimization of processes, as well as more active use of contactless methods of issuing accompanying and customs documentation in electronic form.

 

Today, many logistics providers, in order to stay in the trend, change the established schemes and use in their work alternative algorithms of interaction with the client, which often turn out to be more expensive. For example, they are becoming increasingly popular recently combined (multimodal) delivery options various cargoes. A characteristic feature of the latter is the use of 2 or more types of transport for the delivery of products within the framework of a single contract. The cargo transport company with which the corresponding document is concluded is responsible for fulfilling the conditions. For example, for air transportation, such an option is the delivery of goods through major European hubs, such as Frankfurt am Main, Charles de Gaulle, Schiphol, Heathrow, Barajas and others. It is possible that new ways of cargo transportation may appear in the near future.

Summing up, it is important to note that the quarantine has clearly demonstrated that for the successful development of business activities in the field of logistics, an important role is played by trust and partnership relationships that allow cooperation, as well as flexibility in the search for new approaches to solving the tasks and the ability to adapt as quickly as possible to the complex realities of quarantine restrictions 2020