Contained: Freight queues extend for miles and miles as price fears grow

Electrocoin’s John Stergides has seen a few economic cycles in his time, but none quite like this. This one, could be the mother of all cycles.

The machines distributor is concerned at the trends forming, and has been vocalising his fears for several months now. He first forecast shipment delays during the winter when delivery times were edging up bit by bit. Now, he explains, “sometimes the wait is as long as three weeks before shipments even enter the port.”

The delays, however, are no longer the headline problem. Price hikes are now the big fear: “The price of a 20 foot container has reached 12,000 US dollars, and for a 40 foot container, it’s between 18-20,000 dollars.”

Even to a shipping idiot, that sounds a lot – basically because it is. It’s a four-to six fold increase on pre-Covid times. But there’s worse: “The demand is so high that they want premiums for earlier collections in August availability. It’s crazy,” Stergides noted.

And the prospects are worrying. “There are fears that prices could go up by 50 percent just to cover the freight,” Stergides cautioned, citing a current example of six machines costing $2,000 in freight costs alone.

It’s a concern shared across the distribution chain with fellow importers scratching their heads over how to manage the spiralling shipping costs. “Our stocks of machines at old rates will obviously sell out and the new machines being imported at inflated shipping prices will reflect the new higher pricing.”

And that problem is looming as Stergides fears: “This shipping situation will likely not end until well into next year.”

Article – Contained – Price Fears Grow was published in the below issue of Coinslot:

Coinslot – June 18th – June 24th  2021 – Issue 2738 – Page 4