It is believed that about 25,000 factories have closed in the Guangdong region of China recently, to the detriment of freight forwarding companies in the region. Over the last six months, shipping and logistics companies have been forced to make redundancies and place a moratorium on recruitment. A large number of toy factories have closed, with the consequent reduction in export volumes. Airlines are also experiencing a reduction in demand – one Asian airline experienced a 16.9% reduction in freight traffic in November 2008.