About 35% of air cargo capacity worldwide has disappeared with the sharp drop in international passenger flights, according to Randy Stanley, UPS vice president for supply chain operations. Stanley and other UPS executives held a webinar April 3 on how the COVID-19 pandemic response is affecting cargo shipments. “Demand has significantly exceeded available capacity, especially on the trans-Pacific trade lane,” said Vito Losurdo, vice president of procurement, referring to air cargo. He referred to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's “air bridge” efforts to rush personal protective equipment to the New York region.

As countries seek to acquire needed supplies of ventilators, masks and other protective gear, the deputy director for trade and agriculture at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said that nationalizing production of these goods is not the answer for the next pandemic. Julia Nielson, who was speaking on a Washington International Trade Association webinar April 2, said, “I don’t think nationalization of supply has ever meant security of supply.” She said that countries may need to consider the inventories they hold, and redundancies in where they get goods, but that given the way this pandemic is spreading in waves, relying on one country, even your own, could be risky.

After 47,000 stores in the U.S. closed in a week, Flexport says that so many companies can't take shipments arriving at East Coast ports that those ports are now shopping for more warehouse space. Because importing companies' warehouses are either full or closed, they tell the ports they'll pay demurrage charges for the goods to stay there. “The ports are actually worried now they won’t have enough space,” said Chandrakant Kanoria, Flexport's head of network operations, during a webinar March 31. He said Savannah is hoping to almost double its warehouse space, and the New York and New Jersey terminals are talking with warehouse providers to try to make room, as well. There are problems in the warehouse logistics ecosystem, as well, because Amazon warehouses stopped accepting any goods other than essentials.

Exports to the European Union rose by 5.9% in 2019, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in its annual report on the business ties between Western Europe and the U.S. Exports to Belgium, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria and Denmark were all up by double digits, with the most growth in Austria, where exports were 60% above 2018 levels. However, the growth was about half the pace of 2018, when exports to the EU grew by 11%.

The end of passenger flights between Europe and the U.S. has led to a two-thirds drop in air cargo capacity for those routes, said Neel Jones Shah, Flexport's global head of airfreight, during a March 24 webinar. “Freighters are stepping up, they are filling some of the gap, but rates are much higher,” Shah said. He said that for trans-Atlantic air cargo, importers should expect to pay $4 to $6 a kilogram.

Bold action from the administration to address the economic fallout of the COVID-19 response crisis is needed, the Business Roundtable said in a letter sent March 18 to the Trump administration. It asked for “immediate tariff relief through the duration of the global pandemic," among other things. "Tariff relief can support the public health response as well as economic recovery. As an immediate step, the U.S. government should suspend tariffs on all medical and health products and other supplies necessary for the public health response to the COVID-19 outbreak.” It suggested that the administration work to ensure expedited customs clearance authorities, unspecified regulatory flexibility and, possibly, more money for transportation and port infrastructure. It criticized buy local provisions for goods needed for the epidemic, as well as export controls on those goods, saying they exacerbate scarcity problems.

As more local shelter-in-place orders are issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, brokers and forwarders should examine each order to determine whether their services are exempt, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an email. “However, based upon the Order to Shelter in Place issued by the Public Health Officer of Alameda County, California two days ago, it would seem that the activities of forwarders and customs brokers would fall within the exemption provided, as those activities are essential to keep goods moving in commerce,” it said. Exempted services include “shipping services, companies that supply other essential businesses with supplies necessary to operate or that ship goods or services to residences, and companies that are engaged in public transportation,” it said.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is canceling its upcoming annual conference, the trade group said by email. “The NCBFAA is still working with the hotel to finalize this matter, but at this time, we will not be holding our Annual Conference in Las Vegas next month,” it said. “We will be refunding all registrants over the upcoming week, and we thank you all for your patience as we work to unravel this event on our back end.” The conference had been scheduled for April 19-22. The Centers for Disease Control recently recommended against any gatherings of more than 50 people until mid-May on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NCBFAA said in its message that it is in discussions to hold the annual conference alongside its NCBFAA Educational Institute conference in August in Chicago.

The U.S. imported 3.03 million TVs from all countries in January, a 26.1% increase from December, but a 24% decline from January 2019, according to Census Bureau data accessed March 15 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. January TV imports were worth $798.23 million in customs value, up 9.8% from December, but down 24.8% from the previous January. The average January TV import was worth $263.20, which was 12.6% cheaper than in December and virtually unchanged from January a year earlier.

Supply chain disruptions due to China's lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic may end up not being as relevant as the worldwide economy shudders and stalls. Kurt Tong, former consul general to Hong Kong and a business consultant with the Asia Group, told reporters March 16: “You can have supply chain shocks that are being masked by the fact that there’s no demand for the goods.” He said the abrupt reversal of economic activity means “shipments are going to come down.” Tong and others were speaking on a webinar about trade and the coronavirus.