Time to stock up on products? Mass shortages might just happen soon

This one’s for those in the US!

About to get even worse

He said that the situation today is the worst he’s witnessed — and he believes it’s about to get even more severe.

“Buckle up. The month of May will be the worst people have ever seen,” he predicted. Because some shippers will have to wait in line behind the growing backlog in Asia, he expects “what’s going to happen soon is that some importers won’t even be able to get on the boat. For them, it will almost feel like trade is coming to a halt.”

How long will this last?

I tried to buy a new bike on Friday. They tell me at the shop their new bikes are stuck on the Ever Given, which is now impounded by the Egyptian authorities. They don’t know when they will get a new supply as there are so many containers stuck on the Ever Given that the Chinese manufacturers can’t get their products onto another ship anyway.

This might seem far-fetched but either way the shop won’t take my money. Meantime I’m going to get new tyres and tubes fitted and just keep riding the old one.

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I ran into a similar issue in February this year… I do a lot of Mountain Bike Riding here in Victoria and order most of my specialised components from the US… One order took 2 months to arrive (usually 3 weeks). So, I contacted the supplier in the US about the delay… It was travelling as sea freight!!

The reason was the massive decline of international flights between North America and Australia which normally carry a large percentage of the expedited freight around the globe, so they had ceased processing international orders until further notice… This would be a global issue I would imagine. I know from experience that Emirates Airlines carry large volumes from Europe and South East Asia to Australia.

Shortages are already happening in Australia… Retailers especially online are sold out of many product lines… White Goods, New cars, Bicycles even certain types of Timber is starting to be hard to source.

The effect… Second hand vehicles (3-4 years old) are becoming more expensive, domestic construction is struggling due to shortages of building materials…

This pandemic has many knock-on effects… It ain’t over yet.

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I’d already chatted to the same bike shop - one of the biggest chains in the UK - about a new gear set. These are Shimano and are made in Europe - they said they hadn’t seen a delivery for about 4 months, and no expectation of any more. What the heck!

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How did you come across this article? Do you normally follow shipping trends?

Or do you trade those indices they mentioned?

This is scary. I feel like it’ll happen soon.

I don’t. I just saw it in my news feed! I’ve also been seeing chatter about it online.

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Welp. Who knew gas was going to be part of this lol

This only reminds me of the pandemic accompanied by the lockdown. Everyone was stocking up groceries, wondering how tough the situation would get. Worst of all, we would fall short of things or maybe just not be able to move out.

@ponponwei, The terminally stupid in Australia and other countries make a rush for bulk Toilet Paper…

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I mean, if you need that much Toilet Paper… COVID is the least of your problems…

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Yes meanwhile the dumb here in the US still have gas in their backyard. Some of them even ended up leaking onto their lawn. RIDICULOUS.

An update on the shipping issues:

Witynski added that a freight forwarder in San Francisco said in a recent transportation webinar that “the transit times from Shanghai to Chicago had more than doubled to 73 days from 35 days.” Another carrier executive estimated “that voyages are now taking 30 days longer than in previous years due to port congestion, container handling delays, and other factors,” Insider’s Áine Cain reported.

“Industry experts expect the ocean shipping capacity will normalize no later than 2023, when many new ships come online,” Witynski said.