Panama Logistics Working Group Meeting Minutes, 07 August 2020 COVID-19 Response LOCATION Teleconference DATE 07 August 2020 CHAIR Samuel Kealey PARTICIPANTS AECID Alejandro Fuentes CLRAH Melissa Sanchez Kirsch ECHO Javier Fernandez Espada IFRC Valeria Araujo IOM Naisa Snape OCHA Dario Alvarez Save the Children Ayack Montalvan UNDP Alfonso Buxens UNHCR Carina Chung UNHCR Joyce El Murr WFP Gabriela Candano WFP John Myraunet WFP Lila Ricart WFP Mabel Dominguez WFP Mert Kazmirci WFP Nivia Quirós WFP Salvador Peña WFP Samuel Kealey WFP-UNHRD Francisco Quesada ACTION POINTS • WFP to consolidate any importing and customs challenges in the region and to direct these challenges to the IMPACCT Working Group. Partners are invited to share information with WFP. • Next meeting, the Mesa Logistica TORs will be presented and reviewed taking into consideration the COVID-19 and hurricane season context. • WFP to post relevant Mesa Logistica updates and documents on a dedicated Humanitarian Response webpage. • WFP to share updates on passenger flights as they become available. Panama Logistics Working Group Meeting Minutes, 07 August 2020 COVID-19 Response AGENDA 1. Global Logistics Activities and the Global Appeal for WFP Service Delivery 2. Regional Logistics Bottlenecks 1. Global Logistics Activities and the Global Appeal for WFP Service Delivery • The first WFP-chartered humanitarian passenger flight between Bogota and Mexico City took place on August 5th • WFP has announced regular flights between Panamá - Port au Prince and Panamá – México. These flights are open for bookings as follows: o On Mondays as from Mon, 17 Aug: (05:00 LT) Panama – (08:15 LT) Port au Prince (09:15 LT) – (10:30 LT) Panama o On Mondays as from Mon, 17 Aug: (11:30 LT) Panama – (15:02 LT) Mexico (16:02 LT) – (21:02 LT) Port au Prince (22:02 LT) – (23:17 LT) Panama • WFP Aviation has also announced the following ad-hoc flights to Panama, Bogota, Caracas, San Pedro Sula and Mexico from the passenger hub in Panama City are open for bookings but subject to final government clearances. Below flights will be operated on ad-hoc basis. o On Thursday, 13 August: Bogota – Panama – Bogota; o On Thursday, 13 August: Mexico – San Pedro Sula – Panama; o On Friday, 14 August: Panama – Caracas – Panama – Mexico. • 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 respective headquarters and 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 these flights: https://humanitarianbooking.wfp.org/. • All passengers are responsible for booking their own accommodations and connecting flights. • Aviation Focal Point, Mabel Dominguez ([email protected]) is following up with civil aviation authorities and agreements with operators in the region. • 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/. • Partners are strongly encouraged to continue uploading their supply chain needs into platforms as this information greatly improves our ability to plan and eventually deliver in a timelier manner. Panama Logistics Working Group Meeting Minutes, 07 August 2020 COVID-19 Response • A WFP charter flight arrived the Panama hub from China with common services cargo on 29th July. carrying cargo for WHO/PAHO to be pre-positioned in the Panama hub. • In the period 18th – 29th July, 6 charter flights arrived from the WFP China hub with some 3000 cbm of cargo, with cargo from WHO and the Jack Ma Foundation. • The Royal Canadian Air Force ended its mission in Panama on 2nd August, after completing rotations with their C- 17 aircraft to Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Guatemala. • Remaining dispatches of about 1000 cbm to 18 countries are commencing through air freight after some delays due to quality check of part of the cargo by shipper and reconfirmation of arrangements at end destination. • 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. 2. Regional Logistics Bottlenecks • Several countries have extended nationwide quarantine including Argentina until 16 August 2020 and Colombia until 30 August 2020. • 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. • Copa Airlines will be resuming its operations from Tocumen Airport (Panama City) as of 1 August 2020 but only for Panamanian nationals and residents and with a very limited capacity. • Paraguay reopened its land borders with Brazil for cross border cargo transport with small and medium trucks. • Brazil – Uruguay border: trucker demonstration over COVID-19 tests have halted cargo shipping between Santana do Livramento and Rivera border points. • Bolivia: following postponement of the Bolivian General Elections, protesters are blocking 30 points on the highways around La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Cross-border transport with Argentina and Brazil has resumed • Northern Chilean Ports (Arica, Iquique) are only working 2 shifts of which only 1 is reserved for container deliveries. This is causing delays and additional costs for import shipments to Bolivia. All current deliveries from Chilean and Peruvian ports are being halted due to current civil unrest. • Bolivian soya beans export shipments are significantly delayed (up to 3 days instead of 3 hours) at Peruvian and Chilean border crossing points before they reach ports of respective countries Panama Logistics Working Group Meeting Minutes, 07 August 2020 COVID-19 Response Contacts John Myraunet [email protected] Nivia Quiros [email protected] Samuel Kealey [email protected] Mabel Dominguez [email protected] Mert Kazmirci [email protected] Lila Ricart (Global Logistics [email protected] Cluster) .