On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the spread of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to be a global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy, disrupted global supply chains, created significant volatility and disruption in financial markets and increased unemployment levels. In addition, the pandemic has resulted in the imposition of various travel restrictions, health protocols and changing quarantine regimes in the countries in which we operate. These have so far translated into, among other things, increased costs and off-hire related to crewing, crew rotation and crew related expenses, higher forwarding expenses and longer lead times to delivery, as well as increased dry docking duration and costs. While some economies have since begun re-opening in varying degrees, it is impossible to predict the course the virus will take, how governments would respond to multiple waves of the virus, whether vaccine produced will be effective against the virus and possible mutations and if vaccines can be produced and administered in the scale required. In the long run, the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy, consumer behaviour, globalisation and international trade remains uncertain.
The main effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Partnership so far are as follows:
- Our vessels have been subject to quarantine checks upon arriving at certain ports. This has often resulted in delays in completing vessel operations and in off-hire days in certain cases where a positive COVID-19 case has been identified.
- Due to quarantine restrictions placed on persons and additional procedures for crew rotation, our crew has had difficulty embarking and disembarking on our ships. This has not, thus far, affected our ability to rotate crew but has resulted in increased expenses.
In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in reduced industrial activity in various countries around the world, with temporary closures of factories and other facilities such as port terminals, which led to a temporary decrease in supply of goods and congestion in warehouses and terminals. For example, the measures taken by the Chinese government in response to the outbreak, which included numerous factory closures and restrictions on travel, as well as labor shortages resulting from the outbreak, have slowed down production in China and in other regions relying on Chinese production or raw materials, and decreased the level of export and import of goods from such regions. Government-mandated shutdowns in various countries have also decreased consumption of goods, negatively affecting trade volumes and the shipping industry globally.
We expect that pandemics generally, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, could affect our business in the following ways, among others:
(1) Pandemics may reduce the demand for goods worldwide without a commensurate corresponding change in the number of vessels worldwide, thereby increasing competition and decreasing the market price for transporting containerised and dry bulk products;(2) Countries could impose quarantine checks and hygiene measures on arriving vessels, causing delays in loading and delivery of cargo;(3) The process of buying, selling, and maintaining vessels may become more onerous and time-intensive. For instance, delays may be caused at shipyards for newbuildings, drydocks and other work, in vessel inspections and related certifications by class societies, customers or government agencies, as well as delays and shortages or a lack of access to required spare parts and lack of berths or shortages in labor, which may in turn delay any repairs to, scheduled or unscheduled maintenance or modifications, or drydocking of, our vessels;(4) We may experience a decrease in productivity, generally, as people-including our Manager's office employees and crews, as well as our counterparties-fall ill and take time off from work. We are particularly vulnerable to our crew members getting sick, as if even one of our crew members is ill, local authorities could require us to detain and quarantine the applicable vessel and its entire crew for an unspecified amount of time, disinfect and fumigate the vessel, or take similar precautions, which would add costs, decrease our utilization, and substantially disrupt our cargo operations. If a vessel's entire crew falls seriously ill, we may have substantial difficulty operating that vessel which may necessitate extraordinary external aid;(5) International transportation of personnel could be limited or otherwise disrupted. In particular, our crews generally work on a rotation basis, relying largely on international air transport for crew changes plan fulfillment. Any such disruptions could impact the cost of rotating our crew and our ability to maintain a full crew synthesis onboard all our vessels at any given time. It may also be difficult for our in-house technical teams to travel to ship yards to observe vessel maintenance, and we may need to hire local experts, which local experts may vary in skill and are difficult to supervise remotely, to conduct work we ordinarily address in-house;(6) Governments may impose new regulations, directives or practices, which we may be obligated to implement at our own expense;(7) Any or all of the foregoing could lead our charterers to try to invoke force majeure clauses; and (8) Credit tightening or declines in global financial markets, including to the prices of our publicly traded securities and the securities of our peers, could make it more difficult for us to access capital, including to finance our existing debt obligations.
Any of these public health threats and related consequences could adversely affect our financial results.
These and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic could have the effect of heightening many of the other risk factors disclosed in this Annual Report. It is early to assess the full long-term impact of the pandemic on global markets, and particularly on the shipping industry. The actual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the longer run, as well as the efficacy of any measures we take in response to the challenges presented by it, will depend on how the pandemic will continue to develop, the duration and extent of the restrictive measures that are associated with the pandemic and their further impact on global economy and trade. Such impact may take some time to materialize and may not be fully reflected in the results for the year ending December 31, 2020. We continue to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial condition and operations and on the container industry in general.