Industry Update
 

We have entered Q4 and with that the holiday run-up is well under way!
 
As has been widely covered in national news and elsewhere, the port delays and congestion at US west coast port coasts continue.  We also noticed port of NY starting to get a bit congested.  For the first half of 2021 a lot of the ocean freight availability and pricing was centered more around Asia & SE Asia origin ports.  Increasingly we’ve seen higher rates and much poorer availability in South American ports, as well.  In some cases ocean freight rates have more than tripled since June (Paraguay) and in others they have risen by 2-2.5X (Peru).  Overall transit times from South America are also running about 2 - 2.5X their usual.
 
Forecasting your requirements months in advance is increasingly important as relying on "spot buys" will increasingly just not work anymore as stock is allocated on inbound shipments weeks & months in advance now.   At a minimum we suggest securing base-line requirements for the next 6 months as that will help avert some out of stocks.  Please contact us to assist with this planning process.
 
For ease of reference please find an overview of our products attached.