Shipment warning: these countries have caused logistics or large-scale delays due to the "closed city" again!

As the Delta variant of the new crown pneumonia spreads globally, this has become a mainstream variant of the new crown virus in some countries, and some countries that have successfully controlled the epidemic have become unprepared. Bangladesh, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa and many other countries have tightened restrictions again and entered "re-blockade."

★ Malaysia blockade will be extended indefinitely ★
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin recently announced that the nationwide lockdown originally scheduled to expire on June 28 will be extended to the number of confirmed diagnoses per day falling to 4000. This means that Malaysia's lockdown will be extended indefinitely, and only stores that are necessary for people’s livelihood will be allowed to operate. The economic hardship and the closure of the city have been extended indefinitely, which has affected the livelihoods of many people and increased the unemployment rate.

Malaysia’s Senior Minister of Defense Ismail Sabiri announced on the evening of July 1 that the Malaysian government has decided to implement the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) in these areas due to the severe situation of the new crown epidemic in many parts of Selangor, Malaysia and 14 areas in Kuala Lumpur. Further tightening of anti-epidemic restrictions.

Due to the continuing severity of the epidemic, the Malaysian government announced an indefinite nationwide blockade

During the first phase of the comprehensive movement control order in Malaysia, starting from June 16 on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, non-critical cargo and containers will be loaded and unloaded in stages to reduce port congestion. In terms of containers, including containers imported by manufacturers from all parts of North Malaysia and exported to Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Qingdao, China and other places through Port Klang, the cargo storage volume of Penang Port has been kept below 50% and the situation is under control. The Port Klang Authority previously released non-essential containers during the FMCO period from June 15 to June 28 to avoid congestion in the port of Klang. The above measures allow port importers and exporters to avoid double losses. In addition to reducing the cost of container ship leasing, it also reduces the cost of storing goods and containers at the port. The port side hopes to cooperate and face the challenge of the new crown epidemic shoulder to shoulder with the government.

★ The nationwide emergency lockdown in Bangladesh ★
In order to curb the spread of the delta strain of the new crown mutant virus, Bangladesh is scheduled to implement a nationwide "cities lockdown" measure for at least one week starting from July 1.

During the lockdown period, the military dispatched soldiers, border guards and riot police to patrol the streets to assist the government in implementing epidemic prevention measures.

In terms of ports, due to long-term berthing delays in Chittagong Port and remote transshipment ports, the available capacity of feeder ships has decreased. In addition, some feeder ships cannot be used, and the inland container yard is responsible for the backlog of export containers for packing.

According to Ruhul Amin Sikder (Biplob), secretary of the Bangladesh Inland Container Warehouse Association (BICDA), the number of export containers from the warehouse is twice the normal level, and this situation has continued for the past month or so. He said: "Some containers were stranded in the warehouse for up to 15 days."
Sk Abul Kalam Azad, general manager of Hapag-Lloyd’s local agent GBX Logistics, said that during this busy period, the number of available feeder vessels has fallen below the level required to meet demand. At present, the berthing time of ships at Chittagong Port will be delayed by up to 5 days, and the berthing time at the transshipment port will be delayed by 3 days.

Azad said: "This waste of time has reduced their monthly average voyages, resulting in limited space for feeder ships, which has led to congestion at the cargo terminal."

On July 1, about 10 container ships were waiting at the anchorage outside Chittagong, and 9 of them were loading and unloading containers at the wharf.

★ 4 Australian states announced emergency lockdowns ★
In the past, different Australian cities have successfully contained the epidemic through active city closures, border blockades, social tracking apps, etc. However, after a new virus transmission group was discovered in the southeastern city of Sydney at the end of June, the epidemic spread quickly across the country. In two weeks, the four state capitals of Australia, including Sydney, Darwin, Perth and Brisbane, announced the closure of the cities. More than 12 million people are affected, close to half of Australia's total population. If you include several small cities that have implemented relatively loose blockade measures, the affected population will exceed 20 million, which is almost 80% of Australia's total population.

Australia is one of the countries with the lowest rates of new crown vaccination in developed countries. Only 5% of adults have completed two doses of the vaccine, and 29% received the first dose. The outside world believes this is one of the main reasons for the rapid spread of the Delta variant. .

Australian health experts said that since Australia is currently in the winter, the country may face restrictions for months. According to reports, in response to the newly emerging domestic epidemic, Australian states have begun to implement cross-regional border control measures. At the same time, the mechanism of mutual travel between Australia and New Zealand without isolation has also been interrupted. Port operations and terminal operation efficiency in Sydney and Melbourne will be affected.

★ South Africa once again raised the level of "closed city" to deal with the epidemic ★
Due to the invasion of the delta mutant strain, the number of infections and deaths at the peak of the third wave of new crown pneumonia in South Africa recently increased significantly compared with the peak of the previous two waves. It is the most severely affected country on the African continent.

The South African government announced at the end of June that it would upgrade the “city closure” level to the fourth level, second only to the highest level, in response to the epidemic, in response to the third wave of the new crown epidemic. This is the third time the country has raised its "closed city" level in the past month. A number of epidemic prevention measures such as alcohol prohibition and curfew have been promulgated to prevent the rapid spread of the epidemic.

Morty, head of the World Health Organization's African Regional Office, said: "The third wave in Africa is spreading at an unprecedented speed and scale. The rampant spread of more contagious variants of the virus has pushed the new crown's threat to Africa to a whole new level. Action must be taken to strengthen preventive measures to prevent tragedies."

Others--Due to the continued deterioration of the epidemic in India, which is the second largest textile manufacturer and exporter in the world, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and other major textile and apparel exporting countries have also suffered from strict blockade measures and logistics delays. With the supply of raw materials and domestic political turmoil, the textile and apparel industry is in varying degrees of difficulty, and some orders may flow into China, where supply guarantees are more reliable. Kaiyuan Securities believes that with the recovery of overseas demand, the global textile and apparel market may continue to improve, and China's textile and apparel exports will also continue to improve. It is optimistic that Chinese chemical fiber enterprises will continue to supply the world steadily in 2021 and fully benefit from the recovery of global textile and apparel demand.

Written at the end-here is a reminder that freight forwarders who have recently traded with these countries and regions will pay attention to logistics delays in real time. Beware of issues such as port of destination customs clearance, buyer abandonment, non-payment, etc. So as not to suffer losses.