The Friday Report: November 20th, 2020

2020 is the Year of Shipping and Delivery

COVID-19 has certainly changed the world in many unforeseen ways and has had a major impact on retail sales.  Although retail sales are down, e-commerce has been outperforming other sectors and aided in offsetting the lack of in store purchases.  This has created a new challenge:  shipping delays.   The huge influx of online orders has impacted even Amazon during its annual Prime Day event.

Now retailers must focus not merely on sales but on actually getting their products into the hands of customers.   With a reported 47% of consumers reporting higher interest in online shopping this year as compared to 2019 and the recent uptick in the instances of COVID-19 across the United States, experts are forecasting a 35.8% year-over-year sales increase and possible shipping delays for consumers.

Retailers have been learning in real time about how to deal with e-commerce fulfillment challenges for the past eight months.  Many retailers and shipping carriers have significantly ramped up hiring for the holiday season and some have invested more in the latest technologies.   Shipping deadlines have also been set back to allow for more time in preparation, transport and delivery.

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2020 COVID-19 Pandemic Spells Turbulence for Freight in Air Cargo Industry.

With the lockdown earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger air travel took a precipitous nosedive.  To decrease operating costs, passenger airlines cancelled flights, parking planes that normally would also have transported freight.

Passenger airlines use the belly of aircraft to transport goods.  Industry experts report that 40-50% of airfreight carried on planes is not due to passengers but rather goods.  As shippers struggled to move freight, they reached out to alternative carriers including UPS, FedEx and Atlas Air. Air cargo rates went sky high due to the loss of capacity. In May 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued new guidance that enables passenger airlines to transport cargo in the seats in a passenger airline cabin as long as no passengers are on board.  The FAA exemption is in effect through December 31, 2020.

Pharmaceutical and life sciences goods are often transported via air.  Mission critical goods including but not limited only to personal protection equipment and pharmaceutical goods have been impacted by these conditions and capacity changes.

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Meat Alternatives Beef Up the Competition with Traditional Meat Products

Did you know that two-thirds of American consumers have reported that they are eating less meat products?  Consumers attribute the reasons for this to cost and health concerns. 

As livestock has been estimated to be responsible for approximately 14.5% of all human-related global greenhouse gas emissions, this would seem to be a definitive step in the right direction.  Both consumers and investors have shown that they are willing to gamble on alternative forms of protein.   With the world population estimated to double between 2000 and 2050 and economies increase their wealth, there are grave concerns about raising animals for consumption.  This is due to the significant amount of greenhouse gas, as well as the large amount of energy, land and water required.

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