The latest developments within AEL Berkman, as well as events that have a direct influence on our operations and articles that show insight in our industry.
| 26 February 2020 | As from this week, all AEL-Berkman China offices have resumed normal work, all branches are fully operational with the majority of our staff working in offices. Regarding our warehousing and VAS activities Qingdao, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Hongkong warehouses are fully operational. Shanghai warehouse is operating with less workers as some who are coming back from other provinces are still in isolation period. Ningbo warehouse starts to accept cargo from medium to high-risk areas like Wenzhou, Taizhou, Hangzhou as long as truckers can provide valid Health Certificate and Certificate of Resumption of Work, delivery by appointment with 2 day in advance is still recommended. Reports say that 70% of the enterprises resumed normal production. If not, it is likely due to below reasons 1) Some factories who can’t provide a safety working environments to employees and failed to get permission from local authorities 2) Even with permission, according to quarantine rules, workers from other places have to be isolated for 14 days, limited availability of workforce 3) Cross-province transportation was severely affected, limited the mobility of workers travelling to the workplaces We expect the situation will be much improved from early March. |  |
| 17 February 2020 | AB HongKong, Shanghai, Xiamen and Qingdao offices: Since Feb 10th, majority of staff have reported duty excepted some were coming back from the so-called high-risk areas. AB Shenzhen, majority of staff serving our partners and customers in office from Feb. 17th. AB Ningbo continues to provide flexible work arrangements. Ningbo warehouse has partly resumed operation from Feb 17th. Trucks from the so-called high-risk areas like Hubei/Wenzhou/Taizhou/Hangzhou were not allow to enter into warehouse. Delivery by appointment at least 2 days in advance is recommended. Many factories and trucking companies are struggling to return to normal production. As per quarantine rules in some areas, workers coming back from other places have to be isolated for 14 days, which limits trucker/worker availability. As TEU demand in market may drop, some carriers are actively introducing blank sailing and port omissions, vessel sailing schedule reliability will also be affected. | |
| 13 February 2020 | Covid-19 death toll in China reaches 1,114, surpassed the total number of deaths in the world caused by SARS in 2003. New infection cases recorded yesterday were 2,022, adding up to almost 44,800 confirmed infections. Statistics and mathematical model suggested that there is a trend the number of new cases is gradually reducing, infections could level off in the coming weeks. Top officials were addressed in an occasion where the President was also present that efforts to contain the new coronavirus had gone too far in some areas, which threatened the country’s economy. Violent restrictive measures like sealed off roads and railways, complete lockdown of residential compounds and over complicated administrative measures were not encouraged form a central government level as some of those steps have not been practical and even sown fear among the public. Central government urged efforts to protect workers from getting infected and meanwhile resume production as soon as possible for companies who can provide safety working environment to their employees. We would think more and more factories and companies will pass the sub-district level on-site safety inspection and gradually resume work in an orderly manner early next week | |
| 11 February 2020 | AEL-Berkman Shanghai, Xiamen and Qingdao offices with majority of staff reported duty excepted some were coming back from the so-called high-risk areas and were advised by Street Office or Neighbourhood Committee to isolate themselves for 14 days or a certain period of time. Hubei Province, where the new coronavirus broke out recorded most confirmed infections, followed by Guangdong and Zhejiang Province, thus the municipal governments of Shenzhen (located in Guangdong) and Ningbo (located in Zhejiang) have tightened the control on return to work date. To support Shenzhen and Ningbo’s further effort to contain the coronavirus spreading, during this week, AEL-Berkman Ningbo and Shenzhen offices will provide flexible work arrangements in accordance with the operational needs. Regarding on-site operation, our Ningbo warehouse was requested not to resume operation until Feb 16th. Suppliers and factories in Zhejiang and Guangdong told us that they faced the similar situation, official return to work date has been announced by the provincial government as Feb 10th, the reality is that they have more administrative steps to go through before they can obtain the official “sub-district level second approval”. Thank you for your understanding | |
| 13 Janauary 2020 | Last Saturday, the Shanghai team joined by the GMT members celebrated their Annual Dinner party at the beautiful Waldorf Astoria Hotel on the iconic Bund in Shanghai. This year Vicky Wang (Sales from our Qingdao team) and Grace Yuan (Operations from our Ningbo team) were also invited as they both celebrated 10 years of service for AEL Berkman and were honoured for reaching this milestone! |  |
| 14 November 2019 | This week, the AEL Berkman General Management Team successfully completed the 3rd session of our Senior Leadership Development Program, this time we focused on "Enhancing Employee Engagement". As an extra treat, we celebrated the birthday of Simon Zhou, our Shenzhen Office Manager today. Congratulations Simon! |  |
| 15 October 2019 | After months of uncertainty and dropping cargo volumes, there seems to be a first positive in the ongoing trade war. China and the US have reached a first phase of a trade deal which could in theory be the start of the end to the trade war. An increase to 30% tariffs on what is now subject to 25% is allegedly dropped by President Trump, and China would have agreed to buying substantial volumes of agricultural products. Source: The New York Times |  |
| 25 September 2019 | Traditionally, the main carriers will cut capacity during the Golden Week in China. It is no different this year, and some sailings have already been cancelled. As we would like to give our partners up-to-date information on the current situation, please have a look at the article below. Source: Port Report: China's Golden Week means cuts in ocean service |  |
| 05 September 2019 | As AEL Berkman, we support our partners in their commercial activities in China and Hong Kong, as well as abroad. We organize shipper visits, plan joint Sales calls, and offer support on Trade shows. For the Asia Fruit Logistica we traditionally joined forces with our partner from Italy. An impression of the event can be found on our LinkedIn page by following the link below. Asia Fruit Logistics 2019 |  |
| 09 August 2019 | At AEL Berkman, we find it important to continuously invest in our People Capability. The last two days, our GMT and Branch Managers have participated in the second part of our Management Training "Becoming a Change Agile Leader". This time we learned about our personality type, and how we would function best in our team. Next, we learned about leading change based on the new vision we set for the company. Thank you Jeannie Luk for another successful session! |  |