US-headquartered Seko Logistics is highlighting the need to book ocean freight capacity now if businesses want to have goods ready to sell in the Christmas peak and the company is also chartering some vessels as part of the preparedness effort.
«The current global ocean freight supply chain is facing huge issues, none of which seem to be going away any time soon, and definitely not before Christmas,» commented Akhil Nair, Seko’s’s VP Global Carrier Management & Ocean Strategy APAC.
«Based on what we are seeing, the current port-to-port lead times are being impacted by two major factors. One, origin — shippers are unable to get equipment or space to get their cargo out in time. And two, destination — the port congestion is having a severe impact on schedule reliability. This is resulting in further delays — up to 20 days on major export trades from Asia.»
Compared to previous years, this means shipments need to be booked up to eight weeks earlier than usual.
Seko has provided «a useful and visual downloadable checklist with last ship dates in order for businesses to make decisions now to ensure their cargoes gets to where they’re needed in time for the Christmas shopping bonanza.»
From Asia to Europe or US East Coast or Mid West, the «last ship date» is 21 August and for the Asia-US West Coast trade lane is 3 September, it said.
