UPDATE: 28/04/2021
Hey there all,
As you may know, India has been seeing an unprecedented spike in coronavirus cases, with the highest daily tallies recorded worldwide and their healthcare systems being completely overrun by the quantity of cases. This is partly fuelled by a new “Double Mutant” strain which has higher transmissibility and ability to ignore prior immunity. In the last few weeks Nepal has gone from having covid cases completely under control to seeing a similar spike developing, likely due to the same strainmaking it’s way across the border and working it’s way through a relaxed populace.
As a result of this the Nepalese government has initiated a lockdown that closes borders for travel, restricts the amount of people that can be in certain spaces and limits non essential activities. This is currently only stated to be for two weeks and isn’t as harsh as previous lockdowns have been. For now we’re lucky in that this doesn’t affect our business operations or order timelines significantly. However, if the previous lockdowns are anything to go by then it’s likely this two week lockdown may extend piece by piece for months. It’s also worth noting that this spike is steeper than anything we’ve experienced previously and though we’ve acted much earlier than India it may still require more stringent efforts than in the past to get case numbers under control. As the lockdown extends and clamps up tighter we may run into significant issues with fulfilling orders, as detailed below.
Workshop restrictions: Unlike the last lockdown all of our staff are in Kathmandu and current restrictions actually allow a full staffing for how large our workspace is with basic precautions. We may run into issues with getting custom work like engraving done, or printing out scaled patterns for custom work if these other businesses are negatively affected. If the lockdown intensifies the density limits of workplaces may be increased and we may have to reduce the amount of smiths working simultaneously. In this situation we may be able to set up separate workshops or run night shifts to best manage delays. It’s also possible that we run into complete nationwide work stoppages of weeks or more, inflating order turnaround times significantly.
Shipping issues: Unlike the previous lockdown cargo shipments are still available, and we’re able to ship all of our blade types regularly and without issue. The cargo office is being forced to run reduced staff but at present it doesn’t look like it will add any notable delays. It’s looking like cargo will continue to run for as long as we are permitted to continue operating so we may not see any specific delays from cargo this time around. If air freight is halted however then we’ll need to revert to our system during the previous lockdown of sending out large shipment batches every month or so when possible. In this situation we could run into delays of 2-4 weeks in getting orders shipped out.
Materials shortages: In the last lockdown the long closure of both air and land freight had us running low on some basic items such as glue and grinding wheels. While we’re stocked up currently it’s possible that we’ll run into similar issues should this lockdown extend for more than a few months.
Currently our wait time remains stable and fast at 4-6 weeks from the date of having placed the order, however depending on case levels and government action over the next month there is a possibility that this could expand to 12 weeks or more. Please take this into account prior to placing your order.
With all this said though, it’s very important to the livelihoods of our staff and our community that we continue taking orders and operating normally as possible, but we’ll need the support and understanding of our customers.
Though the scope of the current case spike is greater than it has previously been, both as a nation and a business we’re in a better position to deal with this situation and manage anything it throws our way. We’ll keep you posted as the situation changes and if we’re notified of any guaranteed delays we’ll contact our customers directly to inform them and get them the most accurate timeline we can.
Thanks and take care,
The Team at Kailash Blades
