The spread of coronavirus has made a giant impact on the world economy and global shipping markets.

China is the world’s largest exporter of goods and is also home to seven of the ten businesses ports in the world.

Despite the virus emerging in the latter months of 2019, it was not until February 2020 that the global shipping industry was hit by the impact of coronavirus. As shops closed and travel restricted, the demand for goods across the world plummeted.

There has been not only economic impact across the industry, but also commercial impact and issues with supply chain and freight management agreements. This became apparent as the world shut down and the shipping industry saw extensive delays, as services reduced their capacity, docks reduced staffing to help reduce the spread of the virus. In areas such as China, there have been strict controls of non-Chinese crews’ landing and repatriation. 

However, come April, the industry showed signs of recovery, as ports across the world began to re-open including in countries that saw devastation from the virus. Italy’s ports reopened back in March, showing a positive future for the shipping industry.

 You can read about the ports, countries and organisations that are publishing details of the measures being put into place here.

Other freight industries such as air-shipping have benefitted from the mass demand for PPE to keep key workers and front-line staff safe from the novel-coronavirus.

As the world returns to a new normal, although measures are in place to ensure optimum safety of workers.  It is important to recognise how vital the shipping and postal services are not only in the UK but across the world to get goods to where they need to go.

If you want to speak to us about how we can help get your goods to where they are going, contact us.