As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to spread throughout the world WWL has taken measures to protect the health and safety of our staff as well as provide the most consistent service possible to our clients. Following is an update on the situation at each of our worldwide locations:

USA
Beginning tomorrow virtually 100% of our staff will be working from home. All have been equipped with the necessary tools and technology to operate at nearly full efficiency. Daily tele-meetings are held with each operations team to ensure that issues are addressed immediately. Our ability to receive payments, make payments, issue freight releases, accept bookings, track shipments, and coordinate pick up or delivery of freight all continue without any interruption. Our USA warehouses in Torrance, CA and Cranbury, NJ continue to operate as normal with reduced staffing and strict hygiene regimen in place.

CHINA
Our staff in all four of our offices are back to the office and have been working normally since March 1. Booking volume has returned to slightly more than 50% of normal levels and we are expecting a steady growth in those numbers over the next few weeks. Business in China, with the exception of Hubei Province, is more or less back to normal. There is still some shortage of truck drivers but generally we are able to handle all new bookings on schedule.

VIETNAM
The number of COVID-19 cases in Vietnam has only recently begun to accelerate. The concentration of cases is in the large cities such as Ho Chi Minh City. There have been reports of a couple large apartment complexes quarantined in the past few days but generally things are still operating as normal. Our volumes have been steady to above average. We are testing all of our remote processes to ensure we are ready to shift to a work from home model if that becomes necessary which is more and more likely to happen within the next 1-2 weeks.

INDIA
There has been little to no disruption of normal business in India up to now. This is starting to change however with an accelerated number of cases reported in particular in Maharashtra (the state where Mumbai is located). Malls, cinema theaters, gyms, swimming pools, etc. have been ordered to be closed completely until March 31. An advisory has been issued by the government to avoid the use of public transport and avoid going out as much as possible. Since an estimated 8 million people use the Mumbai public railway system daily, this will make it virtually impossible for people to return to their offices each day. Meanwhile a directive has been issued advising private companies to operate with 50% staffing. We are following all government directives and are able to continue operating at full efficiency with a combination of staff working remotely and staff working at the office. Thus far, there has been no impact on our India HQs office in Delhi nor in our branch offices at Indore or Vadodara. Our CFS operations at Nhava Sheva, Tuticorin and Delhi are also operating as normal up to now.

UAE
Our office in Sharjah continues to operate normally. Remote systems have been tested and we are ready to shift to a work from home model if required.

UK
Our UK office is working with reduced staff. We are able to maintain normal service levels with a combination of work in the office and work at home staff. We are prepared to shift to a full work from home model if that becomes government mandated or we determine that it’s in the best interest of our staff. Our UK warehouse as well as our EU warehouse in Germany are operating as normal with reduced staff and a strict hygiene regimen.

We will continue to provide updates on a regular basis during this ever changing situation. Our goal will continue to be to place the health and well-being of our staff as our first priority and the service to our clients as a close second.