As the freight market has adapted to the pandemic COVID 19

The coronavirus pandemic has made adjustments to all areas of human activity, and logistics is no exception. After the borders were closed in the spring of 2020, transport organizations had to rebuild their work algorithm taking into account the new conditions. How the freight transport market learned to fulfill its obligations under quarantine conditions, we will consider further on the example of the company “Neolit”.

How supply chains changed and cargo transportation was carried out
In any crisis, the logistics sector remains in demand, which is why even during the Covid-19 quarantine, the logistics and freight industry was less affected than, for example, energy, tourism or real estate. At the same time, tangible changes took place in the field of freight transportation, but large logistics networks quickly managed to adapt to new working conditions.

Due to the closure of borders, cancellation of flights, devaluation of the currency, selling organizations tried to completely fill their warehouses with product reserves, therefore cargo transportation services became more in demand than ever. At the same time, cargo transportation by each mode of transport had its own characteristics:

Air transportation. The cancellation of passenger flights and the reduction of the number of cargo flights have caused the adjustment of supply chains and the cost of transport services. The company “Neolit” and other large cargo carriers managed to optimize the cost and quickly deliver goods thanks to multimodal and other non-standard solutions. At the same time, due to the temporary suspension of passenger flights, there were problems with the delivery of goods to countries where there is no air freight service, for example, to Mongolia and Armenia. Difficulties also arose with imports, goods accumulated at the terminals, especially in this regard such countries as America and China were affected. Taking into account such difficulties, the rates for the import of goods by air flights have increased significantly, the cost of such deliveries has increased.
Road transport. In connection with the quarantine, many production facilities were closed, which significantly reduced the number of road transports. Additional requirements for cars and crews were introduced, many European countries began to actively switch to electronic CMR. Already in the first months of the quarantine, there is a decline in demand for the transportation of goods by motor vehicles and a decrease in prices for this service. Currently, there are practically no queues at border crossings in European countries and in Ukraine, and the most popular type of product transportation is groupage.
Sea and rail transportation. There was also a significant drop in rates and a reduction in the number of shipments. First of all, deliveries from China decreased. Given that this country is the world’s largest exporter, this has had a negative impact on the number of export cargoes in the world. Due to the cancellation of most of the flights, there were not enough seats on the ships, at the same time, the export of containers from European to Asian countries has become significantly more expensive, and the list of goods that cannot be transported by REF containers has increased. Rail freight was much less affected. Already after the easing of the quarantine, restrictions on container shipments of goods from China to Europe were lifted. It should be noted that railways are the direction of logistics that was least affected by the pandemic. Today, trains with goods follow in a standard mode, without any restrictions.
Distribution of cargo transportation
In the field of domestic logistics, the most popular options for freight transportation remain road and rail. At the same time, in today’s conditions of the pandemic, the demand for air transportation of cargo has increased significantly. This especially applies to the delivery of urgent, important cargo: medical drugs, tests, protective equipment, antiseptics, medical equipment. That is, urgent transportation, which has become much more than before the pandemic, is carried out by airplanes.

When the virus raged in China, medical supplies were brought here by flights from all countries. After the pandemic spread around the world, these goods also began to be delivered to Ukraine by plane.

Changes in rates and cost of logistics contracts
In quarantine conditions, logistics rates were constantly changing, especially for air transport and international road transport. Logistics companies often had to negotiate a rate for almost every new shipment. This made it possible to avoid hype and prevent logistics services from becoming more expensive.

Our company prepared to work under quarantine even before it was introduced in Ukraine. Taking into account the experience of European and Asian logistics companies, we optimized many of the company’s internal work processes, reviewed costs for contractor services, tried to improve service and select new solutions for our customers. We entered the quarantine conditions fully prepared, but even now we do not stop working on optimizing the process of interaction with partners and customers.

Adherence to transport deadlines during the Covid-19 pandemic

Ensuring the continuity of the supply chain has become one of the most difficult tasks for logistics companies. Large companies with a large number of branches and many years of experience had an advantage here. This is what helped our organization successfully solve any issues and deliver goods on time. We cooperated with colleagues from European countries and China, used multimodal solutions. Employees of our organization constantly monitored the spread of the disease, followed the introduction of restrictions and relaxation of quarantine in other countries, changes in the field of logistics in the world. This approach made it possible to respond in a timely manner to modifications of supply chains and immediately find alternative solutions.

How warehouse logistics has changed
When the quarantine first began, a significant influx of cargo was observed at our company’s warehouse complexes. Employees of warehouses and terminals, together with the Department of Internal Transportation of Ukraine, constantly worked to ensure uninterrupted, timely shipments.

Given that the employees had to work in difficult and even dangerous conditions, we took care of all the precautions for them. Conditions for carrying out disinfection measures were organized at warehouses and reception points. It is worth noting that our customers have almost never encountered the problem of product shipment delays.

The effectiveness of the logistics organization in remote mode
In order not to endanger the health of their employees, most logistics companies switched to remote work mode, while partner meetings and meetings with clients took place online.

The company “Neolit” uses the latest technological developments and applies innovative solutions, we switched to electronic document management with many of our clients a long time ago. During the lockdown, our goal was 100% coverage of the entire client base with these technological solutions. Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to fully implement this idea, as it depends not only on the company, but also on the level of development of the information technology sphere at the clients’ enterprises.

All the internal work of the company is automated, we use corporate IT resources, which allows every employee of the organization to work remotely with any files that correspond to his level of access.

One of the advantages of automating the company’s work is the possibility for the customer to make an online application for cargo transportation by any means of transport. All documentation is stored electronically, paper applications with signatures and seals are not required. We cooperate with large clients through communication through special IT systems. This allows you to develop individual solutions, automatically transfer requests for transportation from client accounting systems. Customers can also receive route tracking and delivery status from our central system.

Not so long ago, we made a decision on the typification of jobs. This was achieved through the introduction of a concept that provides access to all the work resources of the organization for all employees, regardless of where they are located. Visualization of local servers of individual divisions of the company and their transfer to data centers was also created.

A new concept with the use of advanced cloud technologies was implemented, and in a year we managed to completely complete the process of such standardization of workplaces. Therefore, when it became necessary to work remotely, all processes were carried out by employees in the usual mode, without losing access to documentation and information technology capabilities that they had in the office. To avoid information leakage, we used hardware encryption, and access to work documents is possible only after passing two-factor authentication.

All employees of the organization were provided with access to resources through a secure cloud. They could install corporate apps on mobile devices, agreeing to security and privacy policies. This provided an opportunity to work comfortably from anywhere in the world.

For many logistics companies of Ukraine, the transition to a remote working mode did not cause any difficulties, and the entire process of cooperation with partners and clients is successful.