Retailers and manufacturers need to act quickly to meet Christmas demand for consumer goods as the global supply chain experiences it’s greatest period of disruption in history.
Global Supply Chain Disruption will make for a lean Christmas
Retailers and manufacturers need to act quickly to meet Christmas demand for consumer goods as the global supply chain experiences it’s greatest period of disruption in history.
As the after-effects of the global pandemic continue to echo across the world, the global supply chain is experiencing its greatest ever period of disruption. The many links in the complex global chain are under severe and crippling stress: the container market, shipping routes, ports, trucking lines, railways and warehouses, all struggling during the fallout caused by COVID-19. The result is shortages, order backlogs and delivery delays, which, with Christmas on the horizon, means the consequences for consumer goods and manufacturing economies could be dire. Unless they act now.
One cause of the disruption is the ongoing limitations of scheduled passenger aviation services. Historically, these services would carry freight, and with many aircraft still grounded, this has significantly reduced the capacity for the cargo supply chain. This was then compounded by the stresses on the shipping industry, also hit hard during the pandemic, with additional pressure from consumers emerging from lockdowns worldwide, flooding online retailers with new orders, causing cracks in the supply chain to emerge and in some cases, widen.
Dan Morgan Evans, Global Cargo Director at Air Charter Service says, ‘As the holiday season approaches, we are bracing ourselves for a jump in demand for air cargo charter. Manufacturers and retailers who have historically relied on shipping routes to move the bulk of their orders will need to consider air cargo charter as the alternative to hit their impending deadlines.’
And whilst you might think that passenger scheduled air services will surely be the solution by then, they are not expected to return to pre-Covid levels for the foreseeable future, with winter travel restrictions threatening routes, and airlines unable to commit to busier schedules. This means freight forwarders are having to think outside the box in order to keep shipments moving and, as Richard Thompson, President of Air Charter Service Americas, acknowledges, ‘air cargo charter is a reliable and quick alternative to belly freight, and a solution to ease some of the supply chain bottleneck. Our customers view cargo charter as the way forward, and for now, it looks like it is the best way to keep supply chains moving during this global crisis.”
The world continues to reopen after the worst of the pandemic, but you might want to start your Christmas shopping early...