‘‘Although we are heading into a period of uncertainty, the world’s freight trade lanes remain open,’’ the company told NZX.
‘‘All 275 of Mainfreight’s branches worldwide are open and our team is moving freight and supporting the flow of supplies on behalf of our customers,’’ it said.
‘‘While we have seen a decline in air and sea freight to and from our Asian operations, trading across other international trade lanes and domestically within New Zealand, Australia and Europe continues at reasonable levels,’’ it said.
‘‘More recently, China volumes are re-emerging as factories and ports return to normal operations.’’
Mainfreight’s comments about China follow research by broking firm Forsyth Barr last week suggesting that China is fast getting back to work after the disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis.
Forsyth Barr said some major industrial centres had recovered to about 95% of normal capacity while the pace of recovery for smaller businesses was a slower 52%.
Mainfreight said its experience in China had given it ‘‘some knowledge of how to operate in this new environment’’.
It expected its full-year results through to March 31 would ‘‘reflect an improvement on the prior year’’.
Although many companies have been reporting being seriously affected by the crisis, others have provided similar advice that they continue to operate as usual.
Rubber products company Skellerup yesterday said its global businesses continued to operate safely and effectively and that trading had been at expected levels.
Last week, AFT Pharmaceuticals reported brisk demand for its cold and influenza-related medicines and that it had not experienced any supply problems from China. AFT also sources its products from India, Malaysia, Europe and North America.
Mainfreight’s positive on-the-ground experience has not been reflected in its share price, which was down at $27.34 yesterday. The shares were down 21.38% on the year to date.
— Jenny Ruth, BusinessDesk
