CovCare Finds Shipping Solutions In Face Of Delays From China

As companies like UPS, DHL, and FedEx all cope with shipping delays, CovCare quickly found ways to solve end-to-end supply chain matters by working with multiple shipping companies, partnering with customs brokers, and booking private flights on cargo planes.

If there was ever a time to get creative it was while facing one obstacle after another in the new normal.

Over the past month of launching CovCare, the medical supplies and logistics company that started with the goal of solving the shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and respirators in light of the Coronavirus outbreak has been able to identify and remedy a number of shipping shortcomings along the way.

One of the more glaring issues is one that many hospitals, healthcare administrators, and general customers are currently facing with medical supply shipments being delayed from mainland China. While the common belief is that there simply isn’t enough PPE, respirators, and healthcare products being manufactured, the reality is far from it. In some cases it’s less about the actual availability of PPE or more about being able to receive the items in a timely manner. Much of the problem stems from the new policy implemented by China's General Administration of Customs that calls for mandated officials to inspect every shipment of N95 respirators, ventilators and other PPE for possible quality problems before they are actually exported.

The dilemma is merely having to wait much longer than a typical delivery window for supplies to arrive with, “China’s newly implemented export restrictions, and limited space to fly items out of China”. An enormous lack of commercial flights and an extended delivery period (an extra 10-15 days for starters) is causing shipping delays coming out of China, the hub of manufacturing when it comes to PPE. 

As companies like UPS, DHL, and FedEx all cope with shipping delays, CovCare quickly found ways to solve end-to-end supply chain matters by working with five different shipping companies at one time to circumvent the strict limitations that have been arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. CovCare also began working directly with customs brokers (who are regulated and empowered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assist importers and exporters in meeting Federal requirements governing imports and exports) to ensure a smooth customs clearance from manufacturers overseas. 

The biggest way CovCare is overcoming any shipping and receiving obstacles?

The company booked private flights on cargo planes to go directly to airports in 1-3 days instead of 7-10 days (or more) the major courier services are taking. CovCare has the capacity to ship 50 million masks per month to the United States and has already successfully shipped over 1,500,000 masks to hospitals, healthcare centers, and individual businesses in the US since early March (with Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai Health System, Staten Island University Hospital, New York State Nurses Association, Houston Methodist, the U.S. Department of Defense, Steward Health Care, and Sazerac House in New Orleans among those receiving facemasks and PPE items from CovCare).

During these desperate moments in the world where time is of the essence, streamlining the shipping and receiving process remains crucial to fighting the spread of the Coronavirus and protecting healthcare professionals, first-responders, and the general public from the spread of COVID-19.

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