Flights to Europe and the United States are suspended! Postal ban between China and Japan! Korean Air warns of bankruptcy! Epic global shipping disaster!

The international economy has been turbulent recently, and many people have even witnessed history without even realizing it!

At 9:30 a.m. local time on March 12, the Dow Jones Industrial Average quickly fell by more than 1,700 points in early trading. As of 21:35, the S&P 500 index fell 7% on the day, triggering the second circuit breaker this week and suspending trading for 15 minutes.

It's not just the United States. On the 12th, global financial markets plummeted and the situation was dire!

According to incomplete statistics, 11 stock markets, including the US, Brazil, Canada, Thailand, Philippines, Pakistan, South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia, and Sri Lanka , experienced “circuit breakers” on March 12. March 12 may become the “global stock market circuit breaker day.”

However, the global stock market circuit breaker on the 12th may have been caused by a shipping storm!

At 9 p.m. Eastern Time on March 11, Trump delivered a national speech in the White House office on how the United States should respond to the new coronavirus epidemic.

Trump announced in his speech that the United States will suspend all travel from Europe for the next 30 days , but the travel restrictions will not apply to the UK. The regulations will take effect at midnight on Friday (March 13).

While the source of the new coronavirus has not yet been identified, Trump called it a "foreign virus" in his speech and accused Europe of not taking the same actions as the United States to control the virus. He said that due to Europe's inaction, "travelers from Europe" sowed "large" virus clusters.

Trump said the decision was made to "prevent new cases from coming into our country," but that restrictions would be adjusted based on actual conditions and exemptions would be given to certain Americans who "have undergone appropriate screening."

Once the news came out, 6,747 flights and about 2 million seats will be affected in the next four weeks. As a result, U.S. airline stocks fell before the market opened, and the U.S. stock market broke the record twice within a week. On March 12, Boeing fell 6.92% and Delta Airlines fell more than 10%. At the same time, European airline stocks fell sharply, with Norwegian Air falling 15% and Lufthansa falling more than 10%.

A European Union diplomat revealed on the evening of the 11th that Trump announced a travel ban on 26 European countries that day without informing the EU in advance. It is inferred that the US travel ban may further complicate the already tense trade relations between the US and Europe. Although Trump said that US-EU goods trade will proceed as usual, the ban will seriously disrupt the trade in services between the two sides.

In addition to the suspension of flights between the United States and Europe, mail between China and Japan has also been seriously affected!

Japan Post announced on March 12 that due to the entry restrictions and flight takeoff and landing restrictions imposed on China since March 9, the delivery volume has been greatly reduced and the smooth arrival of mail cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, from March 13 (Friday), except for some ordinary mail (air letters, postcards and mail for the blind), international mail services to China will be suspended.

Some mail services that continue to be accepted may be significantly delayed in delivery. Packages and mail that have been accepted by the post offices but cannot be sent will be returned to customers one after another.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in China, the number of parcels of supplies such as masks sent from Japan to mainland China has increased dramatically, and international express delivery has continued to experience significant delays.

In addition, most flights between China and Japan were cancelled, leaving Japan Post with 380,000 parcels stranded. EMS, which normally takes a week to deliver, can take up to 40 days after the outbreak.

As the global transportation industry encounters a cold winter, many shipping companies are already unable to make ends meet and are on the verge of bankruptcy!

Korean Air, South Korea's largest airline, recently issued a notice to its employees, explaining the potential impact that the outbreak of the new coronavirus may have on the airline.

"If the situation persists for a longer period of time, we may reach a threshold where we cannot guarantee the survival of the company," Korean Air President Oh Ki-hong said in the memo.

Oh said Korean Air's international capacity has been cut by more than 80% due to global travel restrictions, compared with just 18% during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.

Korean Air has grounded about 100 of its 145 passenger aircraft, and Oh added that it will also postpone investments, cut operating expenses and encourage employees to take voluntary leave.

Korean Air is not the only one facing crisis. Germany's Lufthansa is also having a hard time!

Germany's Lufthansa Group announced that due to the coronavirus outbreak, the group has canceled about 23,000 flights from March 29 to April 24, and may further cancel more flights.

A press release from the company said: "A total of 23,000 flights have been cancelled across all Group passenger routes. Further cancellations are expected in the coming weeks. Schedule changes after April 25 will be announced later..."

As the epidemic spreads, the world's finance, logistics, and trade have all suffered varying degrees of impact! So far, some people have realized the seriousness of the incident.

For example, Antonio Decaro, the mayor of Bari, Italy, which is the worst-hit region in Europe, took to the streets on the evening of the 10th. He burst into tears as he looked at the deserted streets and shops and encouraged the citizens: "I am sure we can do it. We must have confidence. We can do it."

In Iran, where the epidemic is also severe, a host of Iran's state-run television suddenly knelt down during a live broadcast and begged people to stay at home to avoid the spread of the epidemic.

The host said: "No one is immune to the virus. The danger is real. There were 7 cases of COVID-19 in Yadzd on March 5 and 54 cases on March 6. I kneel down and beg you to stay at home and think about yourself, your family and your children."

But there are also some people who are arrogant, such as US President Trump, who couldn't help but add a sentence, "In fact, the risk is very low" even when announcing a drastic measure such as a travel ban on Europe...

A female host in Switzerland licked seats and trash cans on the street, saying she wanted to catch the virus. Her weird behavior caused public outrage!

Finally, I want to say that weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival, but arrogance is! If we don't control it, how far will the world economic depression be?