The logistics industry has seen several business owners rent additional temporary warehouses to temporarily store stranded goods during the partial lockdown. Therefore, additional costs will be incurred once shoppers pick up their items.
As the goods have been accumulating for the past 10 days, the parcels have far exceeded the capacity of warehouses.
“The goods still can be delivered from mainland China to Macau through customs as normal, but the local collection stores are prohibited from operating while Macau is on partial lockdown,” Choi Lau Ngai, president of the Greater Bay Area Cross-border Logistics Association, told Chinese media Exmoo.
“There are indeed cases where the goods have accumulated in the collection stores because there are different standards of processing goods in different collection stores,” said Choi, who is also the CEO of eBuy International Ltd.
He emphasized that although the closure of the local stores has had a considerable impact on the logistics industry, leaders of the sector are calling on these business owners to cooperate with the government policies.
The consolidation period is mainly to prevent the resurgence of the virus. After entering the consolidation period, residents will “gradually resume working, and taking acid tests at different frequencies according to the risk [faced by] different groups in order to consolidate the results of pandemic prevention and control,” said Elsie Ao Ieong U, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, yesterday.
The government has approved the industry’s reopening from July 23 during the city’s consolidation period, according to the report.
According to Choi, amid the partial lockdown, they have received many complaints from residents saying that most of the goods are urgently needed, and that daily necessities are difficult to find in supermarkets.
“During the [current] period of partial lockdown and control in mainland China, couriers can obtain special ‘passes’ to continue to work. Regions with medium or lower risk have been identified where residents can pick up their goods at different times, demonstrating the importance of online shopping for express delivery,” said Choi.
He suggested that the Macau government communicate with the Zhuhai government and include the online shopping and collection industry as companies that guarantee the supply and transportation of daily necessities.
This is so that the industry can indirectly reduce the cost of customs clearance, creating room for price reductions, thereby benefiting the general public in Macau. Staff Reporter
