
DHL Global Forwarding, a division of Deutsche Post DHL Group that provides air and ocean freight forwarding services, said it is prepared with enough resources and capacity to start moving cargo in and out of Shanghai as the city gradually opens up again after recently battling a COVID-19 outbreak.
“We have been carefully monitoring the situation over the last couple of weeks, and we already saw a bit more movement in May compared to April in the warehouse that we have,” said Tim Scharwath, the CEO of DHL Global Forwarding.“
He said DHL welcomed China’s resolve to further high-level opening-up, saying the multinational company will continue to count on China to sustain robust growth as the country has expanded many programs to let foreign companies play a bigger role.
He added that the ever-growing popularity of 5G and smart logistics, which are coming up with more solutions, including unmanned wharves, will not only ensure transportation and delivery capacity but also provide technical support for China’s economic transformation.
For forwarders globally, congestion and capacity shortages have been major issues that have resulted in high air, ground, and ocean freight rates. The shortage of capacity has also pushed freight rates to historic highs during the last 18 months.
Scharwath believes that when Shanghai ends its lockdown, there will be a wave of goods coming in that will cause disruptions on the receiving side as well as on the trucking side.
He expects next year will hopefully see some easing of freight capacity after the Chinese Lunar New Year.
This report’s information was first seen on ChinaDaily; to read more, click this link.