Logistics ops suspended in Ukraine as Russia invades

Several freight forwarders, express operators and airlines have suspended their operations in Ukraine and the surrounding region following the long-expected invasion of Ukraine by Russian armed forces that began Thursday morning. Ukraine officially closed its airspace for civilian operations, although traffic to and from the country had already slowed leading up to the invasion. As tensions in the region have been escalating for some time, some countries — among them the U.S., Italy and Canada — had already issued advisories to operators recommending either extreme caution or complete avoidance of specific areas. Belgium, France, Germany, Malta and the U.K. are some of the countries that have issued Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) prohibiting their registered airlines from operating in Ukrainian airspace effective Thursday. [caption id="attachment_98663" align="alignright" width="1227"] Flight tracking information shows empty Ukrainian, Moldovan and Belarusian airspace on Feb. 24, 2022 at 21:44 GMT. Image: Flightradar24[/caption] “Much of the air cargo coming in and out of Ukraine over the last 12 to 18 months had already been dropping quite dramatically,” said Glyn Hughes, director general for The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), during a media call today. Much of the cargo currently moving from Ukraine falls under the grain, mineral and petroleum categories, which typically move by land or ocean. With ports and land borders also effected, “we would expect those to also be impacted,” he said. Forwarders react Forwarder Scan Global Logistics expects potential delays across transport modes, especially for trade-lanes to and from Europe, according to today’s statement. The 3PL also noted airspace has been closed for Moldova and parts of Belarus. Meanwhile Danish forwarder DSV has immediately ceased all operations in Ukraine until further notice, according to today’s statement. DSV expects operational and capacity challenges to arise as a result, not just for airfreight but trucking operations as well considering the tight border controls. Forwarder DB Schenker has also halted all logistics operations, encouraging the company’s 90 employees in Ukraine to stay home in observation of their safety, a spokesperson told Air Cargo World . While all transport operations in Ukraine have been suspended for Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, cargo is moving as usual in and out of Russia, Belarus and other CIS countries, according to Hellmann East Europe’s latest statement. DHL, FedEx and UPS all have operations in Ukraine, and a UPS spokesperson confirmed the suspension of operations to and from Ukraine “until further notice.” DHL and FedEx declined to confirm whether they have suspended services in the region. For its part, a FedEx spokesperson told Air Cargo World that the company is monitoring the situation and has contingency plans in place, “including temporarily suspending service to and from Ukraine.” DHL has offices in Ukraine, the company confirmed. The impact on trade in the region is expected to be severe following the attacks on Ukraine’s airports and airspace closure. “I think there's martial law now, so people are actually confined to home,” TIACA’s Hughes said. “So sadly, the economy is going to be severely impacted. “ While Scan Global Logistics noted that it remains unclear whether a trade boycott will be enforced upon Russia, during a public address Thursday, President Joe Biden said the U.S. along with the 27 member states of the European Union, the U.K., Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are preparing additional sanctions against Russia, including export restrictions on technology, in an effort to limit Russia’s aerospace and military sectors. The Air Cargo Tech Summit, the new airfreight logistics event presented by Air Cargo World , will take place LIVE in Miami from June 6-7. Learn more and register here.

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