COVID-19 has been interrupting our lives and livelihoods for more than six months, and medical experts are now warning that a new spike in cases could be on the horizon as fall and winter set in. Operations across the business world look drastically different today than they did this past January, or even this past June. Some industries were able to pause or scale back significantly while they figured out how to resume business safely, but the freight industry has had to adjust in real-time.
Two of the most significant changes are the increasing prevalence of digital technologies and the evolving sanitary measures being taken for cargo, especially international shipments. While neither of these are new developments—efficiency and sanitation are concerns as old as the movement of goods—novel coronavirus has certainly broadened and accelerated the growth of those trends.
The Transition to Digital Technology
For many years, computing technologies have slowly seeped into the once-analog world of freight moving. COVID-19, though, has opened the floodgates. Many states are allowing drivers to process CDL applications and renewals entirely online, eschewing brick-and-mortar Bureaus of Motor Vehicles entirely. The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has aggressively expanded its remote surveying options and capacity.Digital freight brokerage , facilitated almost completely through smartphone apps, has become an indispensable tool for shippers and carriers alike. To say that novel coronavirus has pushed the lives of shipping professionals further into the digital realm would almost be an understatement—almost every facet of the industry has been touched by technology in some way since the virus’ outset.
An Even Greater Focus on Sanitation
Sanitation in shipping—especially international shipping—has long been an issue of which shippers and carriers are cognizant. Germs and vectors that are native to an area can wreak havoc if they escape, much like non-native plants and animals can devastate ecosystems not adapted to their presence. Shippers have understood these concerns (and the import/export regulations that have arisen around them) for some time, but coronavirus has caused the cleanliness of cargo to become a top priority. More financial and human resources are being devoted to sanitation than ever before, and intensive cleaning processes will probably be around long after COVID-19 is controlled.
Final Thoughts
The freight industry has had to change in rapid and fundamental ways since the start of the global pandemic. Shipping cargo today bears little resemblance to the process a year ago. TransCredit is here to help you navigate those changes and make informed decisions about your potential partners’ credit histories. We’re here to help.