The seafood industry fears that tight container capacity and elevated freight rates will last till the end of 2024. Over the past two years, the industry has suffered from high shipping rates and reduced shipping options. In addition to this, companies from all industries have battled for space aboard vessels.
Consultancy McKinsey and analysts gathered in a webinar last week made up this forecast. "If the industry continues to be lobbed "curveballs" – COVID-19 lockdowns, the war in Ukraine, and ongoing logistics problems – the supply chain disruption is sure to linger", they said.
Firstly, at the beginning of 2020, the ports suffered accumulation of containers, due to COVID measures and congestion. Also, customer demands for commodities and consumer goods, shipped particularly from China, harmed the situation. Now, besides, fuel and charters are much more expensive and there is an important lack of container ship capacity.
Furthermore, Drewry added in its latest report: "We now believe that market normalization will not occur before 2023. China's adherence to its zero-tolerance public health response to COVID is one of the main reasons why we have forecast that supply chain recovery will happen later than previously expected," it said.
On the other hand, Rolf Habben Jansen, Hapag- Lloyd shipping line chief executive, commented hopefully that "the number of curveballs thrown at the industry will eventually have to stop. This could lead to the shipping industry recovering to more normal levels in 2023".
About this, companies like Thai Union are working on their supply chains policies. They make partnerships with other organizations to improve the monitoring, transparency, and traceability of their supply chains.
