March 2020 saw a lot of things change globally for everyone, one of the biggest impacted industries has been the global supply chain network. It is no secret that in the last 24 months we have noticed never before seen cost increases for containers, significant delays and equipment shortages such as container availability.
The effects this is having on businesses is extensive, what was once an 8-10 week lead time, has now increased to 14-16 weeks. The main pain point that has occurred is the volatile pricing of importing containers, since March 2020 we have noticed an increase of almost 800% which we have only just started to notice to level out, don’t get me wrong the cost isn’t going down just yet (we hope it does), but it is starting to level out and remain consistent. This increase reflects the shift in where consumers spend their money, the money people previously would spend on going out to eat, see a movie or sports game has now been directed into clothing, furniture and other goods, thus putting an increased demand on imported goods.
You might wonder, how does this affect you and your beauty and wellness business. You may notice that your cost of goods has been increased, either from your packaging supplier or your cosmetic manufacturer. You probably have also experienced your deliveries being delayed by 2-4 weeks due to the regular container delays. Although there are signs that the bottleneck is improving, experts predict that we won’t return to normal for another 2 years with the Omnicron variant creating another disruption to the network.
Maersk, one of the big three shipping lines, reported that the worst delays are still on the US West Coast where ships are waiting up to four weeks to be unloaded due to lack of labour available on land. You might think the USA is kilometres away, however these delays create a “ripple effect” around the world seeing containers and vessels locked up for weeks until they are made available again, in an industry already heavily affected by equipment shortages and increased demand.
How can Weltrade Packaging help?
We will always be transparent with you when beginning to work on a project, we will always be realistic about lead times and the pricing we provide has no hidden costs. Our customer care team will regularly follow you up and check in to make sure you have enough stock on hand, we will flag any possible risks we foresee that may affect production and supply, for example Chinese New Year closures and prompt any reorder points that we suggest to be ideal to minimise any stock shortages or completely running out of stock. The last thing we want to have happen is for you to run out of stock, we find when we regularly educate our customers on the current supply chain network we are able to achieve the best outcome for our customers. We import multiple containers every month, we regularly have stock coming in and would welcome the opportunity to assist you with your packaging needs. Please reach out to the Team at Weltrade Packaging and ask us how we can help you.