Al-Jazeera Network's investigation unit obtained an exclusive video revealing a massive accumulation of goods in the largest Chinese export center, which impedes the flow of urgently needed medical equipment to protect hundreds of thousands of health workers while fighting the Corona virus epidemic.
One of the videos, which was filmed on April 19, showing trucks loaded with goods at Shanghai Padong Airport, the busiest cargo freight center in China, awaiting unloading of cargo at customs.
Other videos show scenes of overwhelming chaos in airport facilities as hundreds of boxes, including medical kits, accumulate inside warehouses.
China produces nearly half of the world's preventive medical equipment needs, and its largest customers are the United States and Europe.
An international logistics expert, who spent months trying to buy and export medical masks, respirators and protective clothing for the benefit of many governments, described the situation as a kind of massacre.
In a statement to Al Jazeera, the Western freight agent, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said that "the level of bureaucracy we face in almost every corner is terrifying, we have been able to obtain highly efficient types of protective clothing, but the difficulty lies in getting them out of China and bringing them to the country." Who needs it. "
This massive accumulation in exports resulted from the rapid succession of events, which caused a bottleneck in the commercial shipping system. In addition, the strict restrictions imposed by China on exports in response to international pressure exerted to exclude devices that do not meet the standards, and from the huge demand for protective clothing and shortages Sharp in cargo planes.
The logistics expert did not blame the Chinese officials for tightening the restrictions, but rather expressed concern about the impact.
He said, “They almost daily impose new standards that exporters must adhere to, so you are constantly facing a change in schedule. You are about to load your goods on the plane - and then the Chinese government issues completely new instructions that we now need these seals and those papers from In order to allow the export of this type of protective clothing. "
As for the Chinese government, she said to the island, "Coffid test boxes 19, gags, protective clothing, ventilators and infrared thermometers are all allowed to be exported provided they are in compliance with either Chinese or US FDA standards."
The situation has become so serious that the US State Department this month called on China to relax its new quality control restrictions in order to help end the accumulation in export centers.
As prices for gags and medical clothing are rising, so do the costs of air freight, which the procurement expert said has increased 12-fold since the epidemic began.
In some cases, a shipment of protective clothing had to wait behind a mountain of regular consumer goods such as televisions, computers, and clothing, which have still been trapped in China since January when the country stopped travel and export.
"At this point, it does not seem that there is a policy that prioritizes urgent medical items," says the island's procurement expert.
An additional problem facing the purchasing teams in international hospitals, as they are doing all they can to buy gags, surgical clothes, gloves and Coffed test boxes 19, is that they find themselves in competition with businessmen who offer millions of dollars to buy all the protective clothing produced by China factories in order to reap Profits from their escalating prices.