A total of 77% of international freight forwarding companies remain operational despite the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to the Egyptian International Freight Forwarding Association (EIFFA) at Alexandria’s Chamber of Commerce.
The EIFFA recently conducted a survey of its members to monitor and analyse developments and potential repercussions of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The survey highlighted that 77% of companies were still operating, of which 18% directing their employees to work from home. Up to 40% of companies were working at full capacity and 55% working at half capacity, with the remaining 5% of the companies halted their operations completely.
The survey added that 27% of the EIFFA’s members thought the effects of the coronavirus would be significant, with 9% projecting the effect to be small. A total of 41% believed there would be no negative impact on their companies. Nevertheless, 23% of companies said that it was too early to judge the impact of coronavirus on their businesses.
The survey showed that 47% of challenges due to the pandemic were logistical, 44% were demand decrease, and nearly 9% were other problems the industry might face.
The survey said that there were some prominent operational problems likely to hit the EIFFA members. These included 30% of companies envisaging a shortage of raw materials, 39% a difficulty in accessing employees, and nearly 31% said there would be no operational problems.
Of the respondent companies, 59% said their investments declined due to the coronavirus, whilst 29% denied a decrease in their investments.
