Global Logistics Delays - Still an Issue
 

As many of you know, after more than ten years of selling Kelpak under the KelpMax name (at the producer's request), they have changed their mind and asked that I sell it under the original name. All that has to happen is the arrival of a container of prepackaged, prelabeled product from South Africa...

Normal, pre-pandemic transit time from South Africa to the US warehouse has been 60-65 days, so I should have received my first shipment about the middle of February.

Currently, however, the vessel is bobbing around on the ocean, with a warehouse ETA of April 30, meaning I might see the stuff by mid-May.

Sheesh. Hope my inventory can last another 6 weeks.

I manage logistics in North America for a large multinational manufacturer. The last 2 years have been an absolute nightmare. Starting to see light at the end of the tunnel

That's funny...before I retired, I was the global logistics/purchasing/customer service director for a large chemical manufacturer. Glad I'm not doing that now. It was hard enough finding isotanks, let alone a vessel to put them on!

ISO Tanks are the bane of my existence. We ship hazardous bonded material and it is impossible to find capacity. Find a tank but no chasis. Find a tank+chasis, no bonded drivers available. At that point, I go water orchids

My biggest issue was shipping a hot-melt adhesive to France.

Fill the tank hot = hazardous, so you need a bonded driver.

By the time it got to the port, floated across the pond, and staged for the customer, it was solid, so had to be steamed for about 48-72 hours to reheat and remelt it - EXCEPT French workers don't work over the weekend, so deliveries were made Wednesday to Friday only...

I believe I said this earlier, but I don't miss it at all!