Since Tuesday, March 23^rd, 2021, the ship “Ever Given” has been blocking the Suez Canal with around 17,000 containers on board, thus the most important trade route between Asia and Europe. The consequences of this blockade will affect the supply chains of all driving areas.

The rescue work is in full swing - information from the press and social media differ; we are talking about delays of a few days up to possibly several weeks. What are the possible scenarios for all those involved in the flow of goods?

• Bypassing the Suez Canal
  A possible alternative route is the detour via Africa. The longer transit time of approx. 7-12 days further results in massive additional costs for fuel. The next few hours around the progress of the salvage work will decide whether the major shipping companies consider the detour via Africa.
   
• Delays after the blockade
  An average of around 50 vessels pass through the Suez Canal every day. As soon as the free passage is guaranteed again, the reduction of the backlog will take several days, possibly a few weeks.
   
• Port Congestion
  Overloading of the terminals in Europe and Asia must be expected. As soon as the Suez Canal is freely passable, the ships will head for the port terminals at a greatly increased rate. The loading and unloading of the ships will drag on.
   
• Adjustment of the ship timetables
  It is to be expected that the shipping companies will adapt the ships' timetables to the circumstances. Possible scenarios are omitting ports ("port omits") or changing the port sequence.
   
• Blank sailings
  It is very likely that the shipping companies will withdraw ships from other sailing areas and use them for Asia-Europe traffic. This in turn has an impact on the affected trades, in which the vessels will be missing. The consequences are "blank sailings" (interruption of the weekly departures).
   
• Shipments in the coming weeks from Europe and Asia
  The currently blocked vessels are all intended for loading in the coming weeks from Europe and Asia. Long delays and possible failures (“blank sailings”) are to be expected for all routings.

Lamprecht Transport Ltd. continues to monitor the situation and provides regular updates at this point.

Gian Carlo Alessi is responsible for the management and development of all logistics activities at LPL. After training as a freight forwarder at Danzas / DHL, he worked in various positions in sales, customer service and as Head of Switzerland at Air France and KLM Cargo. Since 2012, G.C. Alessi has been Head of the Freight Department at EuroAirport in Basel-Mulhouse.

The previous Managing Director of the LPL, Urs Suter, who would like to relinquish management for personal reasons, will remain with the company as the future Key Account & Project Manager.

Lamprecht Pharma Logistics Ltd. is one of the leading companies in the field of pharmaceutical logistics in Switzerland, and is a subsidiary of Lamprecht Transport Ltd. in Basel.

LPL specializes in pharmaceutical transports and maintains a large GMP / GDP-compliant warehouse in Pratteln / Basel for all temperature ranges (storage & distribution). The company has had its activities approved by Swissmedic Switzerland for over 20 years.

• Primary materials from the EU are considered to be third countries in the manufacture of goods in Switzerland, even if they were previously imported duty-free. For exports to the United Kingdom, these may no longer be considered as originating goods when calculating the origin. We therefore advise Swiss exporters of goods to the United Kingdom to check their preference calculation.

• If Swiss exporters purchase goods from the EU with preferential treatment and send them on to the United Kingdom, no EUR 1 movement certificates / declarations of origin may be issued. Customs duties must be paid by the importer when importing into the UK.

Further information can be found on the webpage of the Federal Customs Administration