R E G I O N A L FOCUS Insa staff and clients during a post-COVID move AVIOMAR SAS MIGUEL FLOREZ PORTAN CEO PAULA COLMENARES more moving has been possible. Recent months have left scars on the moving industry, battling as it has been against factors including downward pressures on prices. In Colombia, Aviomars Florez says: Another big factor is the cash-flow impact that COVID-19 has had on top of this, the aggressive price reduction is not offering a promising future for our industry. Only the strong companies will survive. Rodriguez adds that the pandemic is likely to cause a shift in the industrys seasonal norms and is causing concern about the future of the business, too. There is a lot of uncertainty that worries us and the whole industry, she says. We believe that what was known of peak-season months may shift. September used to be a lowseason month, but with the reopening of the frontiers, we believe that we will expect a high season from September to January 2021. The increase in unemployment worldwide, leading to an increase in productivity with fewer resources, the shift of in-person interactions to virtual interactions, and the reduction of budgets that used to be allocated for mobility services are some of the factors that we believe are creating big disruption to what we knew regarding international assignments. Aside from COVID-19, in Ecuador, Insa International has faced several additional headaches. These include: extended payment credit terms by multinational and local customers; reduction in volume and weight per shipment; reduction in revenue per pound or cubic feet shipped; and high operating costs because of the dollarisation (adoption of the US dollar) of the countrys economy. 40 FF299 OctNov20 pp34-41 Regional Focus.indd 40 Although there was no national lockdown in Chile, Unipack was affected by delays caused by slower agreements to proceed with overseas agents Some Affiliates also refer to many migrant workers crossing borders to look for work, including those who have left Venezuela or other impoverished nations, such as Bolivia or Haiti, to start new lives. However, Sebastian Laporta, Managing Director of Ward Van Lines, adds: Just months before the COVID-19 crisis, several Latin American countries, such as Chile, Colombia and Mexico, were experiencing social unrest, mainly because of social differences. In turn, we have seen more and more extreme populist governments. All these political and social movements generate great uncertainty in the region and, therefore, foreign investment such as intraregion investment has declined. LOOKING BEYOND COVID-19 With some restrictions now easing, business is beginning to flow, but Affiliates think it will be some time before economies start to recover to WWW. F I D I FOC U S . OR G 21/09/2020 17:23