Container Shipping From China To The UK During COVID-19
Many of our customers are wondering what is happening in the world of container shipping, specifically importing full containers and also part container loads from China and what effects COVID19 is having on shipping.
Container Shipping & International Shipping
The good news is that COVID 19 restrictions have not applied to international container shipping and in fact all international transport is normally except from such restrictions so on the face of it COVID19 should have had no effect.
How Is Brexit Going To Affect Importing Into The UK?
As you may have read, or even heard, the UK Government is now turning its attention to all matters Brexit related. This includes imports into the UK.
Whilst the UK has left the European Union already, there are going to be major changes, challenges and opportunities as we leave the Customs Union on the 31 December 2020. Then our relationship with Europe is severed.
What does Brexit mean for imports into the UK?
Cheap PPE Freight Prices
Whilst demand for PPE has never been greater, especially for gloves and masks imports, there is now more airline space than bookings. Therefore prices have gone down by two thirds since the COVID-19 crisis started, making air freight a cheap option.
Are you enjoying the cheap, reduced rates that are now in the market?
It is still the case that passenger flights are still few and far between. The way that the majority of the world’s air cargo used to moved was in passenger planes.
Importing Masks & Gloves Into The UK
Importing PPE
If you have been trying to get PPE into the UK you may have already discovered the complexities and issues surrounding this process. There is an obvious massive demand for PPE equipment – masks, face shields, gloves, protective equipment etc in the UK at the moment with a lack of supplies.
With social distancing being common place and retail shops and industry starting up again in June, this demand is going to increase.
Shipping Delays From China
Shipping From China
It’s a long way from China to the UK, 7775 km if you were able to go direct. However, most freight making the journey ends up in a container making the 30 / 40 day transit on the back of a container ship.
The routing the vessel takes has massive implications on the time taken to arrive to the UK along with the emissions produced.
The usual route heading through the Gulf of Aden and then using the Suez Canal as a way into the Med cuts out ten days sailing and around 9000 km,
K&L Freight does it’s bit to help supply the UK with PPE
As more or less everyone in the UK knows, a lack of PPE has dominated the news in the UK for weeks now.
There are huge logistical challenges in getting PPE from China to the UK as most regular flights have now been grounded, leaving the few freighter aircraft in use to operate along with a selection of passenger aircraft that are carrying cargo only at the present time.
Importing PPE From China
Considerations When Importing PPE From china
It is becoming clear that there will be an ongoing need for all PPE products through most of this year and maybe beyond.
Whilst there is a big push on UK production of these items, with the vast need caused by the changing of PPE multiple times per day and the run-down of the UK’s manufacturing ability, it’s clearly obvious that there will be an ongoing requirement to import these items for the foreseeable future.
How is Coronavirus Affecting K&L Freight Operations?
We are being asked by many of our customers how the Covid19 Coronavirus is affecting operations at K&L Freight and the wider international transport industry.
We can advise the following:
Sea Freight
Sea freight services are not directly affected by the virus, ships, ports and local transport; for both full load and part load deliveries and collections are operating more or less normally.
International transport is considered by the government a key service and so has government approval to operate,
Supply chain review from importing by air from China
Air Freight From China Challenge
The Challenge was to simplify a customers’ supply chain that had grown without any focus on the planning of how orders are sent from China.
We find this often happens with companies that set up and then have rapidly expanded.
The company’s initial emphasis is quite rightly on sales and growing the business. It’s only when the growth curve settles a little and the business matures do minds turn to procedures and processes needed to make a business more efficient to facilitate the next phase of growth.
Anti-Dumping Duty
What is anti-dumping duty?
First of all a bit of background. If you have ever imported at all from outside of Europe or countries with free trade agreements you will be familiar with the concept of paying duty to Customs and that it is a cost of doing business. You will probably know that most industrial items have a duty rate of between zero to a few percent for most items with other items a bit more.