France is locked down again, UK ports are seriously overstocked, and logistics may be delayed on a large scale

Foreign media reported that French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced last Thursday that Paris and other parts of France will be subject to a one-month limited lockdown starting Friday (March 19) due to a surge in the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units.

Castex said the new restrictions will take effect from midnight on Friday and will last for four weeks, with the restrictions applying to 16 regions including Paris .

Since the outbreak, a total of 4.11 million people have been infected in France. Since February this year, there have been an average of about 20,000 new confirmed cases per day in France. In the last week alone, new cases have increased by 20%. Despite this, French President Macron still strongly opposes the third national lockdown. He prefers to implement local restrictions to try to slow the spread of the virus and the increase in infections with the British new coronavirus variant.

However, because "the current situation is very critical and the situation will become very difficult before mid-April," the saturation rate of intensive care beds in the region where Paris is located has reached 101.7%, and the implementation of strict confinement measures is imminent.

The French government announced on Saturday that any trip more than 10 kilometers in the 16 affected areas will require filling out an official certification form. The Ministry of the Interior’s website stated that cross-regional travel was prohibited on Saturday except for "necessary or professional reasons" and failure to comply with the regulations would be fined 135 euros.

Under the new restrictions, about 90,000 businesses will not be able to open, including about 25,000 businesses in shopping malls across the country that are already closed, according to a government statement. Stores selling non-essential goods and services, including department stores, will be closed.

It's not just France. According to information on the Italian government website, from March 15 to April 2, 11 regions in Italy will be listed as red zones for epidemic prevention and control, and nine regions will be listed as orange epidemic prevention zones. With Easter approaching, the epidemic prevention and control levels in various parts of Italy will be upgraded to red from April 3 to 6.

In addition, Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have all reported high rates of infection with COVID-19, all of which indicate that a third wave of the pandemic is once again sweeping across Europe.

In such a bad environment, due to reasons such as withdrawal from the European Union and port congestion, the container congestion in British ports is serious, which exceeds the container supply problems encountered by other large container ports in Europe . This has led to shipping companies reducing the number of ports and transporting goods from European hub ports through the English Channel Tunnel, ferries and feeder services, putting European logistics under greater pressure.

Container services were diverted to Liverpool to avoid delays at two ports in southern England, which also saw a rise in the container availability index as the Port of Liverpool also struggled to cope with increased traffic.

Whether it is the increasing congestion at British ports or the tightening of blockade measures in many European countries, it has had a significant impact on European logistics. For this reason, European ports may also face congestion and logistics delays in the coming period, and the difficulty of delivering goods to buyers will increase again. For this reason, sellers must also be prepared in advance.

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