Middle East – Coronavirus Regional Update

We are writing to update you on our response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

As more and more governments are taking measures to protect their people, we have been quickly increasing our measures to protect our staff while continuing to serve our valued customers in region Middle East (covering Middle East, Indian Sub-continent, and Africa). We used the last weeks to test our business continuity plans which are designed to address extreme situations. Many of our colleagues are taking advantage of the digital solutions so that we continue to operate with speed and quality.

We want to minimize the impact of coronavirus on you, because we know that together we have an important role to play in keeping the supply chain going:

1. All transactions can be done digitally be it making a booking or sending a shipping instruction.
   
2. We are able to offer instant quotations on Quick Quotes 24/7. Those rates are customized per customer, so you don’t have to worry about getting your best rate.
3. While your sales counterpart will not be there to visit you, we will continue to stay close by phone and where possible by video chat.
4. Our teams are fully operational with staff working remotely through laptops and headsets. Since employees are working remotely, we encourage you to send emails instead of phone calls whenever you can.
5. Counters continue to be operational where allowed by the government.

• We encourage you to opt for sea way bills.
• In case an e-payment option is available in a location, kindly use this option as we will not be able to be accept payments that require face to face interactions in an effort to comply with social distancing measures. In case of an e-payment option is not available in a location, kindly use your local banking partners to complete your payment transactions.
• In many locations, we are releasing e-delivery orders. By importing your shipment on sea way bill, you don’t have to run the risk of delay in receiving your bill of lading from origin. This means coupled with e-payment, you do not have to visit our office.
• If your export business requires Original Bills of Lading, please reach out to us for the possibility to set up printing of bills of lading at your premises.

We understand these are tough times and we want to be there to support you. Let’s together help fight COVID-19 and do our part in minimizing its impact on supply chain. We assure you of our continuous support and that we will keep you posted along the way.