By land, air or sea, COVID-19 has sent shockwaves throughout global trade. As China took extreme measures to contain the outbreak, the impact of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy has been felt on supply chains from Beijing to Beirut and London to Lagos.

According to figures from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the coronavirus outbreak could cost the global economy up to $2 trillion this year.

But there are signs that the movement of goods could be set to pick up.

On the outskirts of London, perched under the Dartford Crossing, is one of the main sorting hubs for British freight forwarding company Davies Turner.

It claims it operates the only dedicated weekly rail service for cargo from China to the UK. The service, which was launched in January 2019, had to be suspended following the outbreak of COVID-19. It is set to resume again on 13 March and what was recently a major drag on business could now turn into an unexpected opportunity.

"We anticipated the service would be suspended due to the Chinese New Year, that was a three-week break, but in view of the coronavirus and the closure of Wuhan terminal and in addition to that, the trucking restrictions in China and the factory closures, we delayed the service for a further three weeks," said Tony Cole, head of supply chain services at Davies Turner, who oversees the project for the 150-year-old firm.

The company estimates the direct cost of the suspension has been around $100,000, but the wider impact is significantly higher, given the other UK businesses that relied on the line.

"In terms of commodities, it's a really wide range, we've got homewares, machinery parts, we have automotive spares, fashion goods," Cole said.

The train line usually starts in the Chinese city of Wuhan before passing through Kazakhstan and Russia, followed by Belarus and Poland, before finishing its journey in Duisburg in western Germany. The remaining goods are then trucked via the Netherlands to the UK.

When the cargo train departs China on Friday though, it will do so from the city of Xi'an instead.

As the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, Wuhan and the wider Hubei province are still subject to some restrictions, meaning stakeholders in China and abroad have been scrambling to find a workaround.

Cole said it has led to a boom in interest in rail freight: "We're talking to a lot of clients, they are all focused on the lead times of their products from China to the UK in particular, bearing in mind the service can offer up to 21 days' transit time savings versus ocean freight and up to 70 percent cost saving versus air freight."

With hundreds of billions of dollars wiped off global markets and retailers in many countries reporting disruptions to their supply chains, the economic cost of the coronavirus is likely to rise in the coming weeks. But, as businesses look to adapt and respond to these uncertain times, getting goods moving across borders could be crucial in helping mitigate the impact of the virus.

[This article was updated on 14/3/2020 to use the correct name for the Dartford Tunnel]