How difficult is inter-provincial logistics during the pandemic? - part 1

Under the sudden outbreak of the epidemic, how to fight the epidemic while doing a good job in "guarantee supply", is placed in the local government and transportation departments in front of a difficult problem. This not only involves the supply of daily necessities for tens of millions of people in Shanghai, but also determines whether enterprises can continue to operate in a closed loop.
China's highway traffic bears more than 70% of the freight volume of the whole society, which is the "main artery" supporting economic and social development. However, recently affected by the epidemic, many enterprises are experiencing difficulties in material delivery.

The freight was four times higher than usual, and no drivers were willing to take it

A senior executive of a large grain and oil company told China Business News that the company received nearly 500 tons of grain and oil orders from Shanghai in the last week. Even though the company charged up to 30,000 yuan per truck, there were still no drivers willing to travel to Shanghai and the goods could not be delivered.
Take a truck of 30 tons of cooking oil for example, from Shandong to Shanghai, the usual freight is about 7,000 yuan, but now it has risen to 25,000 to 30,000 yuan, and there is still no driver to take the order.
Why are truckers unmoved by sky-high freight rates?

The concern of truck drivers lies in that after sending the goods to Shanghai, because Shanghai is an epidemic area, truck drivers' journey code with stars, the return journey in some places will not be able to get off the highway; Even if they get off the highway, they will be required to be quarantined in the local area, usually for half a month, during which they will have no income.

The company has been unable to deliver goods to the Shanghai market since April due to logistics disruptions, the executive told China Business News.
China Business News learned that major domestic grain and oil companies have set up a large number of factories in Shanghai and its surrounding provinces and cities, with abundant production capacity. Currently, they are suffering from logistics problems and cannot deliver grain, oil and food in time.
The freight is 10 to 15 times the contract price,
I came back empty-handed

Some were upset because they could not find the truck driver, and some were upset because the goods could not be delivered smoothly.
"Due to the epidemic control and control, a large number of vehicles from other parts of the country could not get permits to enter Shanghai, so we arranged some transport vehicles to pick up the goods on the expressways into Shanghai, but every day it is like a big luck, because it is very likely that several carloads of goods will not be delivered." A multinational automotive supply chain company in Anting, Jiading, Shanghai, told China Business News.

The head of the company told China Business News that the goods from other provinces could not be shipped because they would face an unknown number of interceptions along the way. "In many places, road checkpoints have been set up to require nucleic acids, and they can only be released after the results come out. This delays the time, and we often send vehicles to pick them up, only to return empty-handed." "He told China Business News.
And these risks need enterprises to bear. "Freight has been the second concern, every day is thousands of increases, the current freight is 10 to 15 times our contract price, some places even more than 20 times, still rising every day. The point is, it all goes down the drain." The head of the enterprise helplessly said.
According to him, all kinds of fancy policies have been introduced across the country, with additional measures, illegal checkpoints and unauthorized blocking of transport routes. "In addition to showing the pass, the green code, the trip code, the 24-hour nucleic acid report, they also include applying for various local codes in advance, and putting up seals, not letting drivers off the bus, and so on."

"Many vehicles have a pass, but they still can't get off the highway," he told China Business News. "The pass is in vain and no one recognizes each other anywhere."

He added that the policy now "changes three times a day," with hundreds of traffic notices issued every day. "Roads and expressways in the Yangtze River Delta are blocked and jammed everywhere. Most of the highway stranded a large number of vehicles and drivers, due to various reasons and can not get off the highway. Many drivers were locked in their cars for days without food or water, and were afraid to go to the toilet for fear of being detained."
According to the report, the automotive supply chain manufacturer produces connector products used in automobiles and supplies both domestic and overseas markets, with more than 70% of its upstream suppliers distributed in the Yangtze River Delta, Shenzhen and other places.

Since April 1, the plant has made a closed-loop management plan for Shanghai's phased containment, bringing in some materials including raw materials and packaging materials from suppliers in other provinces and cities. However, the closure control has been implemented for two weeks now, and the materials originally prepared to meet short-term demand are obviously insufficient. The next stage of production of the factory is facing a serious "material shortage" impact.

Qiu Junhao, deputy general manager of Shanghai Zhantong, a supply chain service company based in Zhangjiang, Shanghai, told China Business News that cross-provincial logistics is indeed facing great difficulties and is doing its best to help customers coordinate solutions.
"The main reason is that at the moment there is a need for private transport across provinces, and the cost is high because all the express and bulk transport companies are out of operation." "Of course, if there are some customers who have vehicles with such qualifications as passport, we can help them," Qiu told China Business News.

At the same time, he said, the current inter-provincial transport is mainly a passport issue, there are many vehicles, but subject to the lack of permits, so the capacity is greatly reduced. "Compared to the previous same spare parts transport requirements, now the time is shorter, fewer cars. In addition to coordinating qualified third-party transportation companies, we have also applied for it ourselves.