Camco operations continuity during coronavirus lockdown

COVID-19 has drastically impacted logistics & supply chain during the second quarter of 2020. Needless to say, container transport has been affected too. As a consequence, freighters, shipping lines and terminals have put certain investments temporarily on hold. Till date, Camco has managed to cope with the coronavirus lockdown fairly well, with the only exception that travel restrictions have delayed project execution where Camco project engineers and technicians were mandatory for installation or systems integration.

Camco production, quality control, shipping and repair have not been affected significantly. The production unit has been operational throughout the pandemic (be it with reduced staffing) and remote support has been available at full force 24/7. Camco produces all hardware in-house and our supply chain management has responded swiftly to occasional sourcing shortages. The Camco quick response to the pandemic has allowed continuity in servicing our clients: nearly uninterrupted shipping of Camco equipment enables project execution by local teams. Also, spare parts for preventive maintenance or repairs have been shipped without delay. Since Camco products are acknowledged for their robustness and easy maintenance, none of our 250 clients has reported unexpected equipment downtime nor significant equipment failure since the coronavirus outbreak.

As a company, we seized the opportunity to assess and finetune specific processes and managed to reduce our project execution backlog. This situation allows a quick start for new projects, enabling a fast implementation and completion of works. Our R&D department has been working on new solutions to complete our terminal automation portfolio, ready to be marketed from this summer.

At the moment of writing, more nations announce lifting containment measures and easing restrictions. It will be a matter of weeks or even days before neighboring countries in Western Europe will re-open their borders allowing travel for business and project execution, not without monitoring carefully the impact of the increased mobility on coronavirus containment. We hope the rest of the world will follow soon and once the virus will be controlled or a vaccine will be available, it will be back to business full steam.

The coronavirus and the economic recession have brought to the fore the need for increased terminal safety and process automation. With a strong financial backbone and a pipe-line of innovative terminal automation products and services, Camco is ready and committed to help accelerate our customers’ success!