Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Update

Please see regional sections for updates.

As the pandemic continues, vaccines have been rolled out, and travel corridors are slowly re-opening, the outlook remains uncertain. Sea congestion at ports, especially at the US West Coats, remain a big challenge and delays continue to drive additional cargo into the air freight market, which has seen record growth.

With the US allowing vaccinated foreign nationals to travel again, the industry has seen an uptick in passenger flights that are planned to be introduced into the market. Despite the announcement of increased routes and flight frequencies, belly capacity is still forecasted to fall short of pre-pandemic levels, especially in those lanes with the heaviest demand like the Transpacific therefore continuing the trend of higher than pre-pandemic market and activities.

Stable situation across the region.

The frequency of international passenger flights are starting to recover with the lift of international travel bans and the vaccinations programs across the region.

The freighters are offsetting some of the capacity leveraging the perishable peak season until end of the year.

Stable situation across the region.

Even though, Covid-19 vaccination is progressing across Asia and travel is slowly re-opening, the ongoing pandemic effect in addition to the sea freight congestion continue to impact available air capacity.

The market in Asia Pacific is still affected by the pandemic impact of the shortage of crews and aircraft around the region. At the same time, production is strong reaching historical records on export volume. This leads to high demand and capacity shortages that severely affect the origins. 

Stable situation across the region.

As the virus continues to surge, our air freight operations in Europe are running stable. The demand for air freight on all major trade lanes is extraordinarily high.

Capacity remains constraint due to the year-end peak season even though passenger flights are returning on some markets. The challenging situation in sea logistics continues to put additional pressure on the tight capacity situation as companies across all industries are shifting from sea freight to air freight to fulfill the needs of their customers.

All major airports in EUR struggle to handle the high volumes. Additionally, Covid-19 is effecting the available workforce which impacts the overall handling situation negatively.

The operational situation in Middle East and Africa remains stable without any interruptions.

As countries in MEA are re-opening for travel, carriers are re-instancing and increasing frequencies. QR and EK are re-converting passenger freighters back into passenger to meet the demand. Both Africa and Middle East recorded a double digit growth in flight frequencies but still below 2019 levels. Cargo capacity shortage continues to maintain the momentum of 2020 levels and higher due to lack of capacity -14% compared to 2019.

Stable situation across the region.

We take this opportunity to thank our drivers, who are tirelessly collecting and delivering shipments under challenging conditions. We also extend our thanks to our customers and recipients of shipments who allow our drivers access to their restrooms. We truly appreciate those who go out of their way to help our drivers do a great job. By all of us working together and showing respect to each other, we jointly contribute to keeping our supply chains afloat.

Like European overland markets, the Kuehne+Nagel network is facing less restrictions compared to the spring period last year. The development on an overall European scale however is still rather volatile and impacted by still existing Covid19 limitations in certain areas. This can lead to some partial reroutings and small delays in selected lanes. The current expectations for the next weeks force us to keep the following pre-conditions in place until further notice. 

For any country in Europe, we still strongly ask shippers to check the availability and readiness of their customers to receive shipments during business hours, before handing shipments over to us. Shipments which cannot be delivered due to absent consignees will be returned to shippers at their cost. In case shippers are not able to receive these returned shipments, storage cost will apply.

In case of pick-up orders customers also need to ensure readiness of their pick-up addresses. If this is not given, cost of the pick-up attempts will be charged.    

Further customers need to ensure that consignee’s will confirm receipt of cargo.

Trucking services in China are back to normal. Cross-border trucking to and from Hong Kong (SAR, China) and the China/ Vietnam border (Pingxiang border) is operating as per normal. Additionally, operation at the Vietnam and Laos/Cambodia border as well as domestic transportation within Vietnam are also back to normal.

For Thailand, domestic and cross-border movement for commercial and essential goods between Thailand and Myanmar/ Laos/ Cambodia is allowed. All drivers need to undergo health checks. 

For cross-border trucking to Central Asian countries and Europe, there is heavy congestion at China/Kazakhstan border (Horgos and Alashankou borders) due to the preventative control measures for COVID-19. 

Similarly, trucking  to Europe via the China/Russia route (Manzhouli border) is also experiencing the same issue due to the increased control measures implemented. 

The Malaysian government has announced nationwide Movement Control Order (MCO) starting May 12, 2021, till June 7, 2021 Movement of goods in and out of the country must adhere to the MCO standard operating procedure. We do not see any impact on domestic and cross border transportation.

Many Indian states have imposed strict lockdowns while other states have announced restrictions on public movement. This has no impact on domestic transportation.

The situation and border control measures in most of these countries are evolving rapidly as the COVID-19 situation continues to change. We are closely monitoring the situation and will provide further updates on this page.    

US, Canada and Mexico border restrictions only impact "non-essential" travel and do not apply to the transportation of goods and services. Stay-at-home orders around the country are being lifted in some states and extended in others, however these measures are not directed at commercial truck traffic. Check with individual partners on their operation status prior to shipping because nearly all LTL carriers will be returning freight immediately (<1 day) after a refusal due to a closed consignee. Cargo cannot be held at the destination due to large volumes of undeliverable freight resulting in additional charges.

US domestic truckload capacity is tightening, but federal and state governments are committed to keeping the supply chain moving. The majority of LTL and Small package carriers will suspend physical signatures. In adherence to the “Social Distancing” policy, drivers will not be obtaining signatures from consignees. Drivers will record the exact time, note any exceptions and obtain the name of the person who is accepting the freight. As spot market truckload rates rise to highly affected areas, less drivers are willing to take loads into these areas forcing the ad hoc rates to climb. Urgent orders of retail goods drive rates up for van and reefer equipment.  Retailers, including e-commerce outlets, rely increasingly on spot market providers to re-stock shelves immediately, while truckers report long wait times at pickup and delivery points.