Much to our shock and dismay, we have learned the Coronavirus / Covid-19 Pandemic has continued to spread and is now active in 184 countries and territories
as of today
.
GTO HQ is communicating regularly with many GTO Members and GTO Agents during this global Pandemic.
A large portion of the companies have informed us they are operating with a bare minimum of personnel in each of their offices and most employees are operating from their homes.
Air and ocean carriers and many other vendors involved in international logistics also have many key staff operating from their homes as a precaution. The degree of suspension of air and many sea transport services worldwide is unprecedented. But
management of most companies indicate they will quickly move back to full speed when this ends.
Fortunately, exporters and importers in countries throughout the world are also frequently operating from their homes as they work to negotiate transactions to take place at points after this worldwide Pandemic has been resolved. As a result, we are seeing GTO Members and GTO Agents communicating as they work on
potential business to hopefully take place in the coming months. It seems a growing number are now meeting
" face-to-face " as they make use of Skype, Zoom, Facebook Live and other software / social media. As a note, most of GTO HQ staff are working from home.
We have presented messages from only two GTO Members in this edition of GTO NEWS. However, we are
hearing from GTO Members located in countries throughout the world as they encourage everyone in GTO to take every possible precaution to protect themselves as we move day to day through this Pandemic.
All GTO Members and GTO Agents and their families are in our thoughts and prayers as we continue to move forward.
Best regards to all -
Darrell Summers, Sr.
Chairman
Email:
dgs@gtonet.org
