DACHSER grows in Mexico

New virus variant Omicron – impact on air and sea freight services

The new COVID-19 virus variant Omicron, which was detected to be widespread in South Africa, has led to some cancellation of passenger flights to and from South Africa.

Apart from this, there are currently no massive restrictions, but it cannot be entirely ruled out that some countries or regions will implement further measures to contain the spread of this virus variant.

This could lead to restrictions on cargo space due to a lack of belly capacity on passenger flights. In addition, Hong Kong Airport has announced that even cargo aircrafts touching Omicron high-risk countries such as South Africa will not be allowed to enter Hong Kong until further notice. Therefore, flight rerouting will be expected.

For the ocean freight sector, there has been no change of the current situation so far. We have only received the information from one shipping company that a new service with South Africa is suspended for two months.

Furthermore, there are also discussions in progress in the Asian market about tightening the COVID-19 rules for ship crews, but these are still under negotiation. Confirmed is only that feeder services from the Pearl River Delta (PRD) to/from South China, including Hong Kong, are also suspended from December to January. This could lead to a challenging situation with trucking capacity and more changes of transport modes to air freight.

The team of DACHSER is in daily contact with all involved parties and doing everything possible to minimize any delays of your shipment. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your local DACHSER representative who will be happy to assist you.

Heavyweights on tour

Shipping 138 metric tons from Brazil to Mexico—DACHSER Air & Sea Logistics organized the transport of an oversized machine for automotive manufacturing. After dismantling the machine into 14 parts, the largest piece alone—a compressor—weighed 125 metric tons. The journey was first made by heavy-lift cargo transport through the Brazilian state of São Paulo, then by container ship to Mexico, where another truck took over again for the last leg to the production plant in central Mexico.

Chinese New Year: Impact on logistics

In 2021, Chinese New Year falls on February 12, it is the biggest festival in China where people celebrate the beginning of a new year with their families. The week-long national public holiday has consequences on global supply chains. 

The following information provides an overview of some key facts of the festival and its possible impacts on logistics.

Dates and key facts

• February 12, 2021 marks the start of the Chinese New Year (the year of Ox).
• Chinese national holiday begins on February 11 and ends on February 17, meaning that most of the businesses, including DACHSER branches in China, will be closed and resumes on February 18.
• Factories and manufacturing sites used to be closed for a longer period of time. Production might pause already one week before Chinese New Year, some factories will only resume one month after.
• The long holiday allows workers in the city to travel back to their hometown for a family reunion, though it might not be the case this year due to the pandemic.

Impact on supply chain

• Extensive holidays in China can lead to delays to your shipments for up to one month.
• Due to the abovementioned closing period of manufacturing industries, there will be no productions from China for at least a week. Even though factories will be restarting gradually, operations will not resume to full swing immediately.
• Productions from other countries in Asia will also be impacted as some parts might come from China or the assembling processes are done there.
• Most shippers will stock up inventories that are sufficient to cover the Chinese New Year period, this leads to a pre-holiday cargo rush; it will also take some time after the festival to normalize the market conditions.

To avoid unnecessary price hikes and delays, it is strongly recommended to place bookings well in advance. At DACHSER, our logistics experts can help you to plan together. Feel free to discuss with us about your needs and we can work out the best to maintain your supply chain uninterrupted throughout the Chinese New Year.