Securing supply chains against second Corona wave

Where will production be located in the future and how will transport costs behave? This is a concern for a. hartrodt's customers who want to protect against disruptions in international supply chains - for example in the event of a second Corona wave. "We notice shifts in transport modes among our existing customers," says Stephan Schillhahn, General Manager Key Accounts & Tender Management at a. hartrodt in Hamburg. For example, a manufacturer of medical equipment has switched the flow of goods out of China from sea freight to air freight. The reason for this is that systemically relevant goods from the medical technology industry or pharmaceutical industry must be on site within a very short time due to Corona.

Eastern Europe as future workshop of the world

Currently, Hendrik Khezri, Managing Director Air Freight at a. hartrodt at Frankfurt Airport, observes two trends: "At short notice, the manufacturing industry is switching from air to sea freight for cost efficiency reasons, and in the long term production will be relocated back to Europe. Eastern Europe could become a world's workshop, "especially Romania, the Czech Republic or Hungary". There, a. hartrodt offers its own storage capacities and could "grow with the customer". According to Khezri, there is an increasing demand for buffer storage facilities to absorb longer transit times.

Warehouse services from a. hartrodt solutions

Worldwide, a. hartrodt operates 55,000 square meters of warehouse and logistics space at short distances to ports or airports. "Our location in Kelsterbach is less than a quarter of an hour from the airfreight hub in Frankfurt," says Khezri. As an extended fully digital workbench, a. hartrodt also provides value-added services such as quality control or ready-for-sale product preparation. The warehouse services are bundled at a. hartrodt solutions. Company-owned Australian warehouses are located in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, smaller Asian capacities in Hong Kong (China), Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Germany predict that companies will secure their supply chain in future with a 60-20-20 approach: "The main base provides 60 per cent of the required supply and two additional bases each provide 20 per cent." Khezri expects only a "temporary pause" in the closely interlinked European-Chinese supply chains.