Corona virus: How manufacturing and trade can manage vehicle space bottlenecks

Due to the current increased demand for non-perishable food and consumer goods, transport capacities are in high demand right now. And of course the holidays are coming up, which could exacerbate the situation. Producing companies from manufacture and trade should prepare for vehicle space bottlenecks.

The logistic industry’s driver shortage alone has been causing road transport bottlenecks during seasonal peaks for years. But the corona virus will make things worse. Data from the TIMOCOM transport barometer corroborates this:

there was an increase in freight offers across all of Europe during January and February this year. Demand rose by 9 percent as compared to January 2019. The increase continued through February 2020; there were 13 percent more freight offers entered into the TIMOCOM Smart Logistics System than in the same period in 2019.

Taking a look at Italy, the country in Europe that has thus far seen the most cases, it is clear that this trend is due to the effects of the corona virus: in January 2020, there was a total of 11 percent more freight offers with (loading and) unloading locations in Italy than in the same month of the previous year. The number grew again in February; there were 34 percent more freight offers with a (pick-up point or) destination within Italy as compared to those offers placed in the system for the previous year. The same trend could also be seen during the beginning of March: on many days, the volume of freight was significantly higher than during the same period in 2019. The import of road transport goods into Italy went up by 24 percent in the first ten days, and exports increased by 8 percent as compared to 2019.

In addition, according to experts at the IT and data specialist TIMOCOM, the fact that goods are often not currently arriving from China has caused a growing demand for products from within Europe. Food suppliers and other businesses are being advised to provide larger amounts of food and consumer goods. Plus, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westfalia have temporarily eased the existing Sunday driving bans, as a means of avoiding supply bottlenecks and lack of goods as a result of the spread of the corona virus. These measures are currently slated to be expanded to include all of Germany.

If the trend continues, the demand for vehicle space will increase once more during CW 15 and CW 16 due to the holidays and the associated shorter work week.

Diversified delivery and supply methods keep business running

How should companies from manufacturing and trade deal with the current situation?

The first step is to attain clarity and transparency regarding the various levels within the delivery chain as part of the value-added process. The following aspects should be considered: Which materials, raw materials or components are needed for which products, and how many? How many and which customers are affected? Which suppliers are part of the process and how much, if at all, are they affected by capacity bottlenecks? What alternatives are currently available?

To ensure business can continue, it is important to make sure, in advance, that the delivery and supply chains are as diversified as possible . Delivery bottlenecks can be avoided by ensuring a variety of options are available. Therefore, logistics managers should react proactively to the current developments and identify potential impacts on their delivery chains in order to ensure that there are alternatives available at short notice if needed.

This is where the TIMOCOM Smart Logistics Systemcan help. If, for example, their regular freight forwarding company is booked solid, a company can use the vehicle space smart appto find a reliable partner on the spot market from over 43,000 verified companies, and it only takes a few mouse clicks. More than 130,000 users generate up to 750,000 international freight and vehicle space offers daily on the app.

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