Amazon Finds Ways to Uninterrupted Services as China Orders Lockdowns

FILE PHOTO: A worker assembles a box for delivery at the Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

March 16, 2022

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc said it will counteract disruptions from the lockdowns in Chinese cities by rerouting cargo to warehouses in unaffected regions as companies rush to comply with the country’s controls to stem the spread of COVID-19 to contain

The e-commerce giant said it bought more local stock during the early outbreak of the Omicron variant to be better prepared for potential disruptions.

Earlier today, Apple supplier Foxconn and others including Japanese company Toyota Motor raised concerns about how global supply chains could be affected as China grapples with the biggest spike in COVID infections since early 2020.

“We do not anticipate any significant disruption to our business. We can counteract these closures by redirecting available cargo to our neighboring warehouses in the region unaffected by COVID lockdowns/restrictions,” Amazon spokeswoman Maria Boschetti said on Wednesday.

Several Chinese provinces and cities have tightened restrictions in line with Beijing’s zero-tolerance goal of suppressing COVID-19 as quickly as possible, including southern China’s tech hub Shenzhen.

The Shenzhen Cross-border E-Commerce Association, which brings together about 2,800 retailers using platforms like Amazon, said its members have felt the pain of supply disruptions.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)