Container delays don’t happen often, but if they do, they can be extremely frustrating. Given the recent challenges in global trade, delays can happen and your cargo might depart or arrive later.
1. The pandemic and the ever-changing customer habits
Since 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic is having a significant effect on shipments and deliveries. As consumer behaviors have changed, they are shifting towards an increase in purchased goods and a decrease in purchased services. With that, many carriers are currently extremely busy transporting goods around the world. Especially trade lanes from Asia to Europe and from Asia to North-America are severely impacted. This is resulting in a lack of equipment and space restrictions on many vessels. While the situation continues, it is essential to follow the latest developments.
2. Extraordinary events and external factors in the shipping world
Some delays might be totally out of your or your logistics partners’ scope – for example, external factors such as the weather, piracy, wars, fire and extraordinary events – which is being described as “force majeure”. Hurricanes, cyclones and many other natural catastrophes can happen, and unfortunately, they can have severe impacts on ocean freight.
Another example is the vessel blockage in the Suez Canal in March 2021. The blockage made it hard to ship cargo smoothly and without any delay. With about 12% of global trade passing through the Suez Canal per year, the trade route provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe. And the blockage has exactly stopped this global trade for a week at the end of March. Now, delays are continuing, and on top of that, equipment and space on vessels are lacking.
These factors should play a role when forecasting your supply chain. To prepare yourself, check out the different methods of supply chain forecasting to make it easier for you to prepare for such events.
3. Schedule changes and traffic challenges
Shipments might get delayed because of schedule changes or traffic challenges, especially when using Inland Transportation. This especially happens during peak seasons such as Chinese New Year or the holiday season. Many factories close for over a week during such holidays, with full productivity not resuming for almost a month. So, logistics companies, carriers and shippers need to deal with this demand and the subsequent backlogs once regular working schedules resume.
Therefore, we recommend always including extra days in your schedule, especially during peak seasons where congestions on the roads and around the ports can increase more than usual.
4. Issues at Customs
When you are shipping cargo internationally, you need to present various shipping documents. It is needless to say that you might forget about specific documents, fill them out wrongly, or authorities might check your cargo and will do further inspections. Furthermore, you might need to watch out for possible changes in Customs Declarations with events such as Brexit interrupting global trade and implying new rules and regulations for cargo worldwide. This all can cause further delays when it comes to the transportation of your cargo.
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