Calling Christmas off?
In what his association is calling a "seasonal whirlwind of worry and rumour that this year’s Christmas festivities in around ten weeks may just not happen as a result of the current supply chain challenges," Robert Keen, director general of the British International Freight Association (Bifa), appealed to freight forwarders to give each other a measure of strength and courage.
He underlined that it was time to maintain a sense of perspective, or the headlines may become a self-fulfilling prophecy: “After all, we need to remember that more teu were shipped successfully in August 2021 than in August 2019 before the pandemic. There is plenty of cargo being moved around."
Keen believes the latest crunch in global supply chains will act as an opportunity for the industry to demonstrate to the general public both the significance and magnitude of modern supply chains.
While Bifa accepts that moving boxes from the ports to destinations inland is currently one of the biggest issues facing retailers and the freight forwarders that serve them in the run up to Christmas, Keen hopes that as port congestion reduces, as it inevitably will, the headline writers will be equally vocal as backlogs are eased and containers are delivered. (sh)