Blog

The global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted millions of people, industries, and businesses. With no real warning or ways to prepare, how we are now running businesses is completely different. Being a logistics business, we are very much still working, and trying to keep ‘business as usual,’ despite having some very unusual circumstances.

Our team has adapted so well to life in lockdown due to coronavirus, with them all working from home to complete their roles. Having to work from home in a role that would normally not be solo, is a challenge, but they have adapted with little fuss, and have got to grips with their new normal over the past weeks. Working from home is not something that the team has been doing much of before, and with children and families at home, it can make the working from home aspect tricky, for sure. Not to mention the communication difficulties that come from not having your colleagues right there to talk to.

We are very lucky to have the technology that we do, to help us all to do remote work during the lockdown, but getting to grips with things that the team have not had to deal with before is tricky. Zoom is a new word we have all been getting to grips with, getting proficient in Zoom as we go along. Many of the team are dealing with back to back Zoom calls each day, which is very different to normal. Even though you can see everyone there, communication isn’t always clear, as video calls are different to face-to-face interaction. We are very proud of the efforts that our team has been going to in order to adapt to this new way of working. They are succeeding in their roles and the jobs are getting done.

CCL customs gateway portal

If you don’t know about our business and why our team adapting to work from home is so important, is that we are a customs gateway portal for much of the PPE, facemasks, and medical supplies that are coming in from China. We arrange delivery of these to most of Europe, so our team really do have a vital role. The team have had the difficulties that come from working remotely and working around family life, and have to deal with a massive influx of work, because of the current coronavirus situation. The increase in work has been overwhelming for us all, but the team has been doing a stellar job to manage orders and deal with deliveries and requests.

We have seen an increase in enquiries each day, reaching over two-hundred emails each day, which is way more than normal, and is an adjustment for a small team to deal with. To meet the demand, our team has been working more hours than normal, without complaining, to ensure that the vital items being sent are customs cleared and released to be delivered as soon as possible. They know how vital their job is right now, to help in the fight against coronavirus, and have just gone with it to make sure that things are ready to go as soon as possible.

One Team

All of the members of our team have been doing their bit to get their specific job role done, but also going above and beyond, over-delivering in all of their responsibilities. As we serve all around Europe, we have to deal with enquiries in several different languages, and this is all on email and across our social media platforms. This is something that is a huge undertaking, and like many small businesses, we had very little warning about this, and very little time to get prepared.

Members of the team have seen how vital their roles are, and how we can all help each other. For example, our guys in IT have been working around the clock to make sure that we are able to deal with the influx of enquiries, in multiple languages; so far, so good. We have to be very flexible in how we work at the moment, and as a result are adjusting our service almost every day to cope with the demand, which is in excess of ten-thousand pieces each week.

Thank you!

CCL would like to say a big thank you to our staff, and to let them know we are very proud of their efforts during this unprecedented time. We know it hasn’t been easy, but they have been staying positive throughout. We are so proud of our team, and how they have adapted; well done!