Asian delivery delays hit companies and consumers

Global supply chains continue to be disrupted by local Covid-19 outbreaks, and the outbreak of war in Ukraine has exacerbated the situation. As a result, the average delay of ships worldwide is still around a week, and the problems are being hit especially hard by small and medium-sized businesses and companies working on a just-in-time model that maintains a minimum inventory level. Experts say that today no one can guarantee them smooth deliveries. The transport situation is also hitting consumers because high freight rates have led to price increases and longer delivery times for finished products to stores. On top of that, delivery times may soon be even longer.

"Air freight continues to have major capacity constraints due to COVID, and the war in Ukraine has caused a sharp decline in rail freight from Asia to Europe, which has diverted more cargo flow to ocean freight," Piotr Kozlowski, Vice President of Ocean Freight Northeast Europe at DB Schenker, said.

"Customers don't have much choice. Ocean freight – even though the prices are very high – is the only alternative to shipments from Asia or the United States," he added.

According to a UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) report, 1.5 million cargo containers were transported by rail from China to Europe in 2021. Such volumes diverted to ocean transport would increase 5 to 8 percent on already congested trade routes.

(Newseria)