Many products, special basic products made from plastic and aluminum are just not available and many company owner and purchasing managers are scratching their heads and trying everything to get hands on a view of the scared items they need so desperately.
But due to Covid, in 2020 there was almost no production of any kind in China, and most of these parts and consumer items come from Mainland China.
During the whole year, production stopped, and now these companies trying desperately to catch up with the orders. But there is only so much they can do, and even if it would be possible to increase the production 500% it still would not help.
As per 1 January 2017 the world commercial fleet consisted of 93,161 vessels, with a combined tonnage of 1.86 billion dwt (Source: UNCTAD) with the Trans-Pacific being the most frequented Maritime Trade Route, and you just cannot double the fleet overnight. And even the world largest Container Port in Shanghai can only handle so many ships. It creates not only a supply shortage, but also a bottleneck in the distribution network.
The warehouses of many companies are empty, and no one even know when the next merchandise will arrive.
Try to get cloth hangers if you are a Dry cleaner or Tailor, food packaging for restaurants and bakeries, or water buckets and many hardware items – though luck.
Charapita Farms, a specialty pepper farm in Dade County growing very rare chili peppers, for example, is in desperate need of Plastic planter pots and other plastic material. Since many months now all suppliers in Miami are empty and no word when the next shipments will arrive. Their best guess is September, but no one really knows.
We also spoke to Rosaura Sias Pipenburg, a Fashion Designer in Miami. Business in the Fashion industry for luxury apparel was close to Zero during Covid. No-one bought expensive outfits when they were running around all day in Pajamas. Now, Business is starting to come back, and now they can not get material like cloth hangers, plastic bags and plastic garment covers.
So, from Production to shipping to distribution, it is a catch-up game, and we hope that the situation normalizes by spring 2012. That’s if people get vaccinated and we get the virus under control, but everyone is terrified for the increase of covid cases due to the Delta Virus.
By Armin Pipenburg