Indian Lockdown, U.S. Rail Challenges, Turkish Trucker Quarantine And Air Freight Is “Charter Or Bust”

India’s government locked the country down for its 1.3 billion people.

As COVID-19 starts to spread in India, the government has taken the very firm and strict stance that businesses must shutter and residents must stay home. While the United States and Europe are doing very much the same thing, India has taken it one step further with closures of airports and seaports. This means goods trying to enter—and exit—the country are in limbo.

TOC is working with our partners in India because each state is interpreting and administering the government’s decision with some variations. Please speak to your TOC representative about the most current state of play for your shipments into and out of India.

Turkey is quarantining truckers crossing into the country regardless of citizenship.

While most European countries are either allowing truckers to cross borders freely regardless of citizenship, Turkey has imposed very strict controls on truckers entering the country, essentially dooming drivers to a one-way trip with a two week quarantine.

Neighboring Bulgaria is looking to capitalize on Turkey’s decision which affects citizens of 67 countries including most of the EU. Their plan? Transloading of cargo into Bulgarian trucks for the final transit into Turkey as their country has not been given a mandatory fourteen day quarantine restriction.

US rail experiencing intermittent, inconsistent departures and transit times.

Logistics companies and shippers are monitoring the cascading effect of COVID-19 on supply chains. The down-the-road potential for intermodal cargo moving inland and to the ports for export is that a drop in consumer purchasing translates into a drop in the number of trains being operated by Class 1 railroads.

This is the conclusion of the American Association of Railroads. FreightWaves covered it here.

Air freight options are increasingly only charters.

Whether a privately-operated cargo charter from an all-cargo carrier offered through a large consolidator or a passenger airline offering their belly space for hire to what is increasingly the highest bidder, we continue to work in a very fluid market to ensure that our clients who have need of air freight between two points have access. We strongly encourage shippers to contact our spot quote team for an estimate of both cost and transit time, as the regular scheduled intervals with flight and truck connections are all in flux at this time.