Whether or not Santa brings you Christmas presents this year might have less to do with whether you’ve been naughty or nice, and more to do with how much attention you’ve been paying to ongoing issues within the shipping and logistics industry.
If it feels as if you’ve been seeing a lot of news about shipping-related issues recently, you’d be right, because there’s been a fair bit going on.
Port congestion and bottlenecks, delays, bad weather and even strike action have all been features of our industry of late, which add to the challenges in getting your shipment from A-to-B.
And, with Christmas around the corner, we’re not out of the woods just yet.
The threat of attack in the Red Sea is continuing to force vessels to re-route away from the area, with shipping lines opting to take the safer, but much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope.
The extra transit time is resulting in delays at various Ports around the globe, with Singapore in particular experiencing significant congestion over the past few months. While container dwell time in Singapore has reduced somewhat recently, schedule reliability remains lower than usual, and vessels are still occasionally opting to omit the Port to avoid getting caught in the bottleneck.
Australia, and Western Australia in particular, have felt the impact of these delays, with transit times for shipments increasing by a number of weeks, and some cargo now coming in via Ports on the east coast before having to be transported via road or rail.
Added to this, we’re now preparing for the traditional peak season – which often comes with its own delays and congestion, largely as a result of increased demand for Santa’s goodies.
We recently highlighted how fragile the supply chain is and can be, with a seemingly small ripple having the ability to create larger issues further down the line.
We’re seeing this play out now, where the events from previous months are already adding extra transit time for goods due for imminent arrival, which then places extra time pressures on cargo needed between now and Christmas.
Added to this, many shipping lines are releasing only limited space on vessels in a bid to avoid a fresh build-up of cargo in Ports, including Singapore. While this may help avoid some of that congestion, it means that bookings on vessels are taking longer to approve currently and leaves little to no extra room for those wanting to suddenly increase cargo loads.
Another factor to consider is increasing freight rates. Import rates are on the rise on the back of an increase in demand leading up to China’s Golden Week (Oct 1-7) and while they’re not as high as what was seen during the pandemic, it’s another cost pressure in the current economic environment.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, it’s vital that businesses and consumers plan ahead.
We flagged earlier this year that orders for Christmas goods needed to be placed well in advance this year, and that sentiment remains true, with a little bit more urgency.
The advice we continue to offer to all clients and stakeholders is if you need it before Christmas Day, and you haven’t already placed the order, do so now.
The best laid plans can and do go awry, and as we’ve seen repeatedly, issues can pop up overnight which are outside anyone’s control but have a significant impact on lead times and transit.
We know that events playing out currently will shape what happens in the lead up to December, and with only 13 more Tuesdays until Christmas (you’re welcome) – you don’t want to risk missing out.
