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Updated at: 8 December 2023
 

We have always prided ourselves on putting our loyal customers first and doing everything we can to get orders delivered in a timely manner.

Unfortunately, our business is being impacted by the global shipping industry and we wanted to share recent global shipping insights with you.

We are currently faced with several major hurdles – increased freight shipping rates, a shortage in worldwide containers, and traffic that has been at a standstill in the Suez Canal.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, economies have suffered and overall consumer spending has shifted from services to products. In Q4 2020 container volumes rose 30% YoY*, a trend that continued into Q1 of this year and will continue for the foreseeable future.  Because of this demand, shipping rates have hit record levels. Now add the Covid-19 regulations and we are seeing congestion and reduced manpower – ports cannot cope with volumes, ships are getting delayed with very long waiting times or missing berthing windows in order to stay on schedule which causes canceled voyages and labor unrest due to working conditions. This is an extremely difficult situation.

Given the situation with our sea shipments, the state of the industry is also having an impact on our truck transport – Covid 19 regulations, congestion, and labor unrest. The situation overall is not forgiving.

What are we doing to fix this? Our team is focused on finding availability and negotiating the best shipping terms so that we can continue to give you the best price / value. We hope to see some relief but also realize that this is a very challenging time that is effecting not just us but the entire global economy.

We remain your faithful premium alcohol supplier

The Sasma Team

*2021 Hillebrand Sea Shipping Report