Wouter Hijzen, Managing Director of De Haan in The Netherlands, looks at the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected his business and lessons for the future COVID-19 is not the first crisis we’ve seen since our company was formed in 1777. It probably won’t be the last either. The first contract we signed was with the Emperor Napoleon and, over the years, we have seen our fair share of good times and bad. But we survived and we fully intend to be here in another 250 years.
Al Mithal looks at the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected his business and lessons for the future.
It’s been approaching three months since India went into one of the strictest lockdowns seen anywhere in the world and, for me, the strain is beginning to tell. Not so much for the business, which is getting by, but personally. As someone who has spent most of the last 40 years travelling to conferences and visiting clients, I do feel that I am getting a little stir crazy.
We didn’t expect this. From 24th March nobody was allowed to go to work (unless they were an essential business), and we were confined to our houses, not even able to go out for essential supplies, they were all delivered to us. My wife, my elderly mother and I have been isolated in our 15th-storey condominium in Delhi. Just how many books can you read and how much Netflix can you watch?
Renata and Laura Busettini from Vinelli and Scotto in Italy look at the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their business in one of the worst hit regions of Europe
Robert Voerman talks about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected his business what the future possibly holds
We first realised we had a problem in mid-March. The government put a lockdown in place on Sunday night and we had to quickly work out how to get everyone working from home. Of course, home working works better for some than others, so we had to work out what was best for each individual, As we have experience with working from home in our offices in Eastern Europe & Africa we were able to switch quickly to this new way of working in The Netherlands. Key has been the technology of RedSky which enables us to all work from home.
Laura Ganon from Fink in Brazil looks at the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected her business and lessons for the future.
COVID-19 has been tough for Brazil; workers here have little choice but to use public transport and people in general aren’t too concerned about the whole community. It’s a difficult culture. This makes it hard to impose any kind of quarantine measures. Our government can’t control crime, health and the safety of the general population, so how can we control a situation like this?
In Brazil transport is an essential service so we were always allowed to operate legally. And we had a contingency plan, but I never expected it to include something like this.
Wake-up Call
Travelling back from Asuncion after LACMA convention was cancelled halfway was indeed a wake-up call for the global threat and seriousness of COVID-19 pandemic.
Monday 16th of March first thing in the office we moved quickly to purchase and equip our teams with face masks, gloves, and antibacterial gel. Meanwhile our government and president were minimizing the threat. The lack of leadership from the government was making global headlines. It forced the private sector to mobilize quickly and independently. Trafimar did not hesitate. While logistics and moving services were considered essential and could continue to operate, we always regarded the safety of our staff as a priority.
Gus Sunwoo looks at the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Asian Tigers South Korea and lessons for the future.
It really started to kick off here on February 26th. The numbers just kept increasing every day and by March 1st we had over 1000 cases a day. It turned out that was the peak, but we didn’t know that at the time.
I was terrified because I had to travel to the LACMA conference in Paraguay and Korea was the number one country (except China) for COVID-19 infections. I had to travel through several different countries to get to Paraguay and the looks I got at the airport was something else. By the time the conference was finished, on March 9th, I couldn’t wait to get back home because everywhere else was being infected. South Korea by then was back to the lowest point: it went up very fast and came down very fast.
Suddath today announced that the company, together with a consortium of strategic suppliers, was awarded a multiyear contract by the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), valued at $7.2B for the transition period and three-year base period. The consortium, known as Team ARC, is led by American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC) and comprises industry leaders in the moving, logistics, and technology industries with a focus on delivering high-quality service to service members, their families and DoD civilians under the Global Household Goods Contract (GHC). In addition to Suddath, the major partners in Team ARC include ARC, UniGroup, Atlas World Group, The Pasha Group and Deloitte.
Bill Graebel looks at the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected his business and lessons for the future…
It was in early February that we realised that a hurricane was imminent: Singapore and Shanghai had shown us the way. At the time only half our staff had laptops, so we had to rectify that and give them training on how to work from home and use technologies such as Zoom. We even had a few dry runs to imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have an office. But never did we anticipate a business continuity plan that prepared us for COVID-19.
Philippa Robinson from Robinsons Relocation in the UK suggests what will have to change in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic