A cargo plane of Garuda Indonesia (Courtesy of/flyawaysimulation.com)Jakarta (VNA) - Logistics companies have experienced a more than 50 percent decline in overall business performance since the COVID-19outbreak hit Indonesia in early March, the Indonesian Logistics Association(ALI) reported.
Theassociation’s chairman, Zaldy Ilham Masita, said logistics volume has been down 60 to 70 percent across theboard.
Zaldy saidbusiness-to-consumer (B2C) and customer-to-customer (C2C) delivery services hadexperienced growth despite the outbreak but the increase was too small tocompensate the sharp drop in the business-to-business (B2B) segment.
The B2C and C2C segments recorded growth due to the increase in demand forfood, perishables and medical supply deliveries despite large-scale socialrestrictions, he said, adding that all three categories had seen a 100 percentincrease since March.
Hewent on to say that during Ramadan, shipment volume usually increased by 30 to50 percent, adding that however, this year the volume would be down 40percent from last year.
Theprediction is based on lower consumer spending because there have been layoffseverywhere and holiday bonus (THR) cuts, he said.
Zaldyalso predicted that the logistics sector would return to normal in the firstquarter of 2021. In the meantime, he said, logistics companies could begindigitalizing operations and broaden services, such as catering tomore B2C clients to survive the outbreak.
SupplyChain Indonesia (SCI) chairman Setijadi also said spending on tertiary goodssuch as automotive, electronics and fashion had declined amid the outbreak,while medical supplies and health products were likely to continue their growthtrend.
Previously,the SCI estimated the logistics sector would grow around 12.7 percent thisyear, with a contribution to GDP of 993.9 trillion Rp (63.9 billion USD).However, Setijadi said the SCI would revise the estimate becauseCOVID-19 had severely affected global trade and logistics activities./.
VNA
