IN D U ST RY N EW S Visitors entering Singapore have been subject to a 14-day quarantine Moving jobs operating more freely The relocation industry is seeing a general trend towards business growth and fewer operational restrictions, according to sources in several regions. This is despite ongoing and tightening lockdown measures in many markets. In Singapore, Carl Hggstrm, new Group Managing Director at CFM Alliance, which includes FIDI Affiliates Classic Moving and the Family Movers in Singapore, said unconfirmed numbers of up to 70,000 expats have lost their jobs in the country and others have decided to return home to their families, causing a surge in demand for consumer paid moving services. As always, the moving industry has more opportunities when anything changes, he said, and we have seen an increase of nearly 40 per cent in door-todoor moves of consumers year to date 2020 versus 2019. He added that in spite of continuing 14-day hotel quarantine restrictions on people with work visas coming into the country, followed by a negative test needed on release, monthly inbound shipments have returned to similar levels as last year. Currently, we are confident next year will be more normal than this year when it comes to trends, and there is still a big amount of people in need of moving services coming into and going out of Singapore, he said. Although peak season 10 FF300 DecJan21 pp10-17 News.indd 10 was less busy than usual, the business was now seeing an extended and more even flow of moves. The buoyancy of the market comes even with government curbs on activity still in place, including mandatory wearing of face masks outside of homes and strict fines for breaking the rules. EUROPE RESTRICTIONS LOOSEN In Europe, as new restrictions were introduced by early November in many European markets including Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK the moving and home sales industries were largely given more freedom to continue working than during the first lockdown periods, albeit still adhering to strict safety procedures. The EU allowed lorry drivers to cross European borders, even if closed to public, and exempted them from any quarantine measures, as long as they completed the right paperwork. At the beginning of November, the UK announced restrictions on all traffic, including road freight, coming from or through Denmark, because of an outbreak of a strain of coronavirus linked to mink farming. According to the International Association of Movers (IAM), two more European moving companies have announced they are insolvent UK-based Movecorp International Removals Ltd and Berlin based Relocately GmbH. Neither business was an Affiliate of FIDI. US RURAL MOVES UP In the US, according to research by Missouri-based Unigroup, there has been a decline in moving requests in the first months of the pandemic falling 26 per cent and 31 per cent in March and April, respectively year on year in September shipments rose by 32 per cent on the previous year. The report, taken from a survey of 6,000 United Van Lines and Mayflower customers, also confirmed an ongoing trend for people moving away from cities, such as New York, Washington DC and San Francisco, and into more rural states, with Vermont, North Dakota and Connecticut the top three choices. OIL CUTS CAUSE RUSH Dramatic job cuts by oil companies were expected to cause an upswing in moving as international employees returned home although, in the long term, the reductions could leave a significant gap for some mobility businesses. As demand for oil dropped, Shell announced it was cutting between 7,000 and 9,000 jobs, BP has cut 10,000 from its 70,000 workforce, and Exxon Mobil has said it was also looking at making cutbacks. WW W. F I D I FOC U S . OR G 24/11/2020 11:53