Panama Logistics Working Group Meeting Minutes, 04 September 2020 COVID-19 Response
LOCATION Teleconference
DATE 04 September 2020
CHAIR Samuel Kealey
PARTICIPANTS CLRAH Melissa Sanchez Kirsch OCHA Dario Alvarez Save the Children Ayack Montalvan UNHCR Carina Chung ECHO Javier Fernandez Espada UNHCR Roger Llevat UNICEF Leon Cases Gonzalez UNICEF Pablo Llopis WFP Gabriela Candano WFP John Myraunet WFP Hugo Jackson WFP Nafimert Kazmirci WFP Nivia Quirós WFP Salvador Peña WFP Samuel Kealey
ACTION POINTS
• WFP with the help of the CLRAH to develop and share survey to determine the 3 goals of the Logistics Working Group. • Group encouraged to invite NGO partners to Logistics Working Group Meetings • WFP to post relevant working group updates and documents on a dedicated Humanitarian Response webpage. • WFP to share updates on passenger flights as they become available.
AGENDA 1. Global Logistics Activities and the Global Appeal for WFP Service Delivery 2. Regional Logistics Bottlenecks
Panama Logistics Working Group Meeting Minutes, 04 September 2020 COVID-19 Response
1. Global Logistics Activities and the Global Appeal for WFP Service Delivery
• There will be no WFP-chartered humanitarian flights between 7-11 of September • The following flights are scheduled on Tuesday, September 15th: o Mexico City (Toluca Airport) – Guatemala City – Tegucigalpa – San Salvador– Panama City. o Bogota – Panama City – Bogota. • September 16th: Panama City – Port-au-Prince – Caracas – Panama City. • September 17th: Panama City – San Salvador - Tegucigalpa - Guatemala City – Mexico City (Toluca Airport). • Organizations wishing to book flights for passengers entering or exiting Venezuela must submit a “nota verbal” to the Venezuelan migration authorities 72 hours prior to the scheduled flight. For more information and the template for the nota verbal, please visit the Humanitarian Booking Hub (link below) for more information. • WFP must comply with several operational requirements imposed by the airlines and the national governments- such as submitting finalized paperwork at least 7 days before the flight and obtain final flight clearances prior to flight. • Partners are encouraged to communicate with their aviation focal point responsible for booking flights. • Please check the Humanitarian Booking Hub to see find the schedule and all relevant information related to scheduled flights: https://humanitarianbooking.wfp.org/. • The WHO Supply Portal allows organisations and Governments to submit their needs and requests for purchase of critical items: https://covid-19-response.org/. • All requests for the transportation of supplies to WFP done outside the WHO Supply Portal, must be made on the Emergency Service Marketplace (ESM) platform https://emergency.servicemarketplace.wfp.org/. • The WFP Common Covid-19 Logistics Services continues to deliver critical response items to the LAC region, both directly to destination countries from the WFP hub in China and via WFP’s hub based in UNHRD Panama. • UNHRD is primarily receiving cargo for WHO/PAHO and UNICEF and mostly consist of smaller consignments of PPE being delivered by commercial air freight. • WFP HQ is assessing the future of the WFP global services considering the current state of the COVID-19 emergency and the funding outlook. In the coming weeks WFP leadership will determine how much longer it will continue to provide free-to-user services to the humanitarian community. • The Global Logistics Cluster maintains a COVID19-dedicated page on their website with real-time logistics information related to the COVID-19 response: https://logcluster.org/COVID-19. The cluster is also consolidating information on humanitarian organisations’ needs for international cargo transport using the Cluster Humanitarian Operational Coordination of Logistics and Air Transport (CHOCOLAT) Platform to connect partners with existing offers from non-WFP contracted flights. This platform can be found here.
Panama Logistics Working Group Meeting Minutes, 04 September 2020 COVID-19 Response
2. Regional Logistics Bottlenecks
• Hurricane Nana passed over Belize and Honduras, which were affected by strong winds and flash flooding. • More storms forming in the East-Atlantic. • In Chile a magnitude 7.0 earthquake was recorded 104 km NW of Vallenar of the coast of Northern Chile at a depth of 10 kms on 1 September. • Colombia has extended the closure of land and sea borders until 1 October, while internal restrictions in Bogota and Medellin will be eased from 1 September. • In Peru authorities extended a nationwide state of emergency until 30 September. • Several countries have postponed the re-opening of their airports for commercial passenger flights: o 4-6-12 September: El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela o 14-18-21-26 September: Chile, Suriname, Panama, Costa Rica o 1 October: Trinidad & Tobago o 14-18 October: Belize, Nicaragua o Although many countries are extending closures for commercial passenger flights, an increased activity of U.S. Carriers in Central America and the Caribbean is being observed. In addition to that, European Carriers are also adding frequencies and new destinations for their repatriation operations.
Contacts
John Myraunet [email protected] Nivia Quiros [email protected] Samuel Kealey [email protected] Mabel Dominguez [email protected] Mert Kazmirci [email protected]