The company’s CEO sees no relaxation in international freight traffic in the short term. On the contrary. He expects problems for months to come.
The logistics company DB Schenker expects months of problems in international freight traffic.
In view of the disruption in supply chains, for example in trade with Asia, he sees no relief in the short term, said the CEO of the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary, Jochen Thewes, on Wednesday at a logistics congress in Berlin. “The closure of the ports in Shanghai was a mega disruption in the most important trades.”
The consequences are greater than after the accident of a container ship in March last year in the Suez Canal, which led to a days-long blockade of the important shipping route.
Die Lage in Shanghai
“We will see months before liner and container shipping recovers,” said Thewes. In Shanghai, after two months of a strict lockdown, the restrictions have now been largely relaxed. Since Wednesday, most of the 26 million people have been allowed to leave their homes.
Thewes also pointed out the consequences of the Ukraine war on freight transport. There are consequences not only for air traffic, because all machines from Europe to Asia now have to bypass Russia. The approximately 100,000 Ukrainian truck drivers who are now missing are also a noticeable factor.
Added to this would be the high diesel prices, which would make land transport more expensive. The Ukraine war also meant a turning point for Schenker. However, Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine are not huge markets for the group. “We will completely withdraw from Russia,” Thewes said. “But we don’t expect that to be really relevant to our results in 2022.”
