“COVID-19 IMPACT ON FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION IN GREECE & THE BALKANS
Greek borders
- Boarders with Albania are closed
- Ferry Service between Greece and Italy has been suspended for passengers
- North Macedonia Government will take to quarantine passengers and drivers coming from what they may consider high risk countries. Special permits are required by truckers to cross the borders.
This will affect Road transport and trucking as routing choices may be limited resulting to delays due to border controls.
Seafreight with neighboring countries since cargo will be picked up by truck will face delays and potential discrepancies due to above.
Customs
- Skeleton crew manning customs.
- Customs clearance is to be performed by appointment only.
- A limited throughput of people may enter customs terminals at the airports, seaports and boarders since there is a limitation per square feet in number of people entering buildings.
Delays are to be expected for customs clearance due to lower processing capacity and appointment scheduling.
This will affect all modes of transport (sea, air, road, rail).
Shipping lines and Airlines
- Most of their staff is be working remotely if possible.
- Where physical documentation is required (i.e. Delivery Orders, Original BLs), exchange will be done by appointments only again with a limited number of people entering business premises.
Delays are expected in operations for import and export cargo.
Quotations and pricing are to be affected due to lack of staff on SL and Airline HQ and sales staff at the respective local offices.
Direct communication with SL & airline staff (i.e. phone calls) will be scarce and will affect the information flow and feedback, thus service.
Road transport
In house quarantine has been imposed and being outside the premises without authorization is prohibited.
Traffic control and traffic regulation is imposed! Only with an official authorization, one can clear these checkpoints and drive through.
Container Crisis
Due to the Current crisis and with ALL physical retail selling points being closed there is a significant reduction of imports.
This has resulted to a shortage of containers incoming to the Balkan market. Containers for exportation will be more rarely available.
Make sure you have options and you make arrangements in advance in order to secure equipment availability.
Containers most affected and scaled from most rare:
1) 20’RF
2) 40’RF
3) 20’FR & 40’FR
4) 20’OT
5) 40’OT
6) 20’DV especially in Thessaloniki port.
This affects Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Kosovo & Cyprus
Future measures
Depending on the virus spread, the Alert level could be raised further affecting traffic.
The country has been declared by the government in High state of Alert and seems this will continue living in.
Don’t panic
PHOENIX staff has been working on premises and via remote access taking all necessary safety measures to ensure good health of personnel together parallel to providing quality services to its customers and partners.
Airports, Seaports, Main road access at border and customs are not closed for the movement of cargo and although delays are to be expected PHOENIX will take all the necessary measures to ensure successful completion of operations in progress.
In times of crises, information is the most valuable resource. PHOENIX will continue to keep you informed and provide feedback as this situation continues.”
Find attsched a study of Imperial university in the UK regarding the spread of COVID-19 in the UK and USA:
Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020
