COVID blamed for delay in delivery

Chennai

The Port of Felixstowe on England’s eastern coast has for months struggled to process thousands of shipping containers delivering vital goods for the pandemic-hit UK economy. The abrupt halt to world trade when the coronavirus first struck earlier this year, left the port — which processes around 40% of the UK’s container traffic — facing an unprecedented crisis. Pressured to accommodate thousands of empty shipping containers, Felixstowe also had to prioritise the hasty arrival of personal protective equipment (PPE) meant for hospitals, including medical gowns, masks and visors. Eleven months after COVID-19 was first reported in the country, a mountain of PPE is still sitting at the port. If the pandemic wasn’t enough, Britain’s departure from the European Union is further exacerbating the congestion. Supermarkets, the National Health Service (NHS) and manufacturers have been stockpiling food, medicine and parts, in case of delays to imports caused by a messy end to the Brexit transition period at the end of December.

Zoe McLernon, policy manager at the freight transport association Logistics UK, told DW that companies want to “have a buffer in their stocks ahead of January 1.” She said the gridlock had spilled over to the UK’s non-container ports. Dubbed Bottleneck Britain, the delays have forced Japanese automaker Honda to temporarily halt production at its factory in England due to a shortage of parts. Swedish retailer, Ikea, this week apologised to its customers for delays to furniture deliveries because of the port holdups. Britain’s children, meanwhile, could have plenty to complain about if their Christmas presents are still stuck in storage come December 25.

Any port in a storm

Toy manufacturers’ association BTHA has warned that ships carrying toys and gadgets have been diverted to Rotterdam. The shipments will have to be transported the remainder of the journey by truck and may not make it in time. The extraordinary port congestion is playing out in a similar manner around the world, including Sydney and Los Angeles, compounded by the abrupt shutdown of economies at different times this year. Roughly 60% of global goods move by container, and according to the China Container Industry Association (CCIA), average turnaround times have ballooned to 100 days from 60 days previously because of handling capacity cuts in Europe and the US.

China, the world’s No. 1 manufacturer, and where the coronavirus first emerged, appears to have already rebooted its economy. Factories there are humming again and Chinese exports surged 21% in November from a year ago. Demand for ‘Made In China’ goods from Europe and the United States has changed somewhat during the pandemic. With entire populations confined to their own homes, orders for furniture, fitness equipment, electronics and IT for working from home have boomed.

Rolf Habben Jansen, the head of Germany’s largest shipping company, Hapag-Lloyd, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the delays at US ports had forced some ships to wait up to a week to unload their cargo. In general, the Hamburg-based company expects around 10% of its deliveries to be delayed. Hapag-Lloyd has been accused of exacerbating the crisis by sending empty containers from the US to China when they were supposed to be loaded with soybeans and other farm goods for the Chinese market. As a result, a third of US soybean farmers were left sitting on part of their harvest. The firm blamed the need to make up for lost time on the return journey, as eight times more freight is sent from China to the US than in the opposite direction.

This article was provided by Deutsche Welle