IATA has cancelled its World Cargo Symposium (WCS) set for March 10-12, 2020, in Istanbul.
    The IATA announcement Monday is the second cancellation for a major world cargo annual event in the past ten days.
    Earlier FIATA, the global forwarder organization, said it was cancelling its Annual Headquarters Session set for Zurich on March 26.
    FIATA said that the event will not be rescheduled for 2020.
    Both cancellations are driven by the global outbreak of COVID-19, a viral contagion that has swept into every corner of the world, disrupting lives and logistics whilst sending world stock markets on a downward spiral.

COVID-19 Is A Moving Target

    “This whole COVID-19 matter is a moving target,” a leading air cargo executive told FlyingTypers.
    “It's difficult to make forward decisions other than to sit tight and hope we can come through this with a minimum of human suffering and that the economic and financial impact will not be too severe.”
    Standing back and looking things over a bit, the situation may be under control in Turkey, however WCS is a gathering of people from all over the world.
    IATA had said earlier on its World Cargo Symposium web page:
    “The health and safety of our delegates are of the utmost importance to us.”
    With this painful cancellation of WCS at the last minute, IATA is biting the bullet and taking the high road, backing up its words with action for the welfare of everyone.
    And for cargo people that had looked forward to a couple days with friends and colleagues in Istanbul, as people often say in that beautiful city, “no worries.”
    We’ll be together again soon.
    More : https://www.iata.org/en/events/wcs/
Geoffrey