China – Operational Impact due to Coronavirus, Lunar New Year Holidays Extension (Update #3)
We would like to offer you our latest update on the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus in the Hubei province and any impact to CMA CGM Group’s operations in Greater China.
CMA CGM Group’s Greater China leadership teams are closely monitoring the situation as part of our strong commitment to ensure the safety of our employees whilst working towards mitigating any possible impact to our customers’ operations.
The situation as of today, 4 February 2020, is as follows:
Lunar New Year holiday extension
Please refer to our 3 February update here.
CMA CGM Group’s operations in Greater China
Except for Wuhan, all CMA CGM Group operations including Terminal, Warehousing, Depots, Offices and other facilities continue to operate uninterrupted as per usual.
Load/Discharge moves at Wuhan port have been suspended until further notice. Our customer service teams are in close contact with all affected customers following up on shipment status and discussing alternative transport plans.
Our Emergency Management Teams are monitoring the situation daily and we continue to review specific procedures and guidelines across all CMA CGM’s Group offices in China. All CMA CGM Group’s offices have solid Business Contingency Plan (BCP) ready, in case the situation escalates.
Offices
While our offices continue to provide essential services through the extended holidays, we schedule to be fully operational as of 10 February.
Health and Safety measures taken by CMA CGM Group
Ensuring the health and safety of all our employees and partners is a priority. The CMA CGM Group has undertaken significant preventive and proactive measures prior, during and after Lunar New Year to ensure we best safeguard our employees’ health and safety and continue to manage our day-to-day operations with little or no impact to our customers’ supply chains.
Visitors to our offices will be requested to wear a mask and make use of hand sanitizers prior to entering the premises.
For the health of our seafarers, strict hygiene measures have been put in place onboard our vessels. In order to limit their exposure to the virus, we are restricting our crew from signing on/off at the affected ports. Our seafarers shall fully comply and cooperate with the local authorities for any pre-quarantine checks. Note that a potential delay to vessel schedule could happen in the event a vessel calls a port with sick crew member onboard.
Detention and Demurrage Free Time
Considering the exceptional circumstances, CMA CGM group will grant additional Free Time for D&D in Chinese ports as follows:
- 1 For containers already over their standard free time conditions, additional free time will be granted from 31 January to 9 February inclusive.
- 2 For containers with free time ending before 9 February, an extension of free time is granted until 9 February inclusive.
Capacity adjustment
Following the extension of LNY holidays, CMA CGM Group is adjusting capacity accordingly. Please refer to our e-business site https://www.apl.com/ebusiness/schedules in order to check our departures of the week. You may also talk to your usual contact at our offices.
We would be very grateful for you to keep your sales and customer service contacts at CMA CGM group aware of your contingency and/or recovery plans. Rest assured that we will do our almost to follow evolution of the situation and plan activities accordingly.
CMA CGM Group is fully committed to comply with any regulatory requirements and policies aimed at curbing the spread of the Coronavirus.
We will continue to keep you informed of any changes to the current situation.
We thank you for your business and continued support.