运输集装箱的成本上升和稀缺性对水生贸易产生了连锁影响。前Covid,运输40英尺容器的价格约为3000美元。在2021年,价格首先上涨至10,000美元,现在为16,000美元,超过了从中国发货和接收水上商品所花费的五倍。整个行业都开始看到效果。
原因很多。首先,在某些中国工厂中,锁定销量总共停止或生产能力放缓。随后,对PPE的需求大大增加,并吞噬了来自中国的所有可用出口渠道,包括航空和海上运输。中国港口实际上用完了运输集装箱,因此无法将其他任何东西发送出去,这本身就造成了积压和集装箱运输的价格。
赌博
One aquatic supplier said they tried to import marine substrate raw materials from Turkey but was told there wasn’t a spare container in the whole country, and they didn’t even have polythene bags to ship it in.
Another aquarium importer told Reef Builders that splitting the shipping cost over a few large aquariums wasn’t viable so they were leaving their tanks in China. While a large eCommerce retailer said that they gambled on paying the increased shipping in the hope that competitors wouldn’t, leaving them as the only retailer with goods in stock and available to sell.
This should leave home-manufactured aquatic goods at an advantage over those made in China, however a product that is 99% manufactured elsewhere may still source 1% of its components from China, or their suppliers might, leaving them in the same situation. The cost of raw materials has gone up globally too, especially plastic.
So pay up, pass the cost on up the supply chain, or stop manufacturing and lose vital income. It’s a tough time for the aquatic supply chain, especially when demand for aquatic products actually increased because of stay-at-home aquarists during Covid.
Record Air Freight charges on fish and corals
牲畜贸易也受到了库维德的巨大影响。飞机停止飞行,因为2020年春季,库维德在世界各地蔓延。
Fish farms were forced to run on a third of the staff and even customs and CITES checks were carried out by less staff, or staff operating remotely, further risking livestock survival prospects as time spent in transit dramatically increased. And Covid is still happening now, with many (unvaccinated,) people scared to go out in key marine export countries such as Sri Lanka, The Philippines, and Indonesia.
鱼类繁殖甚至受到剩下的少数员工的影响,在农场里照顾鱼类的繁殖 - 照顾育雏库,而不是繁殖鱼和饲养炸薯条的劳动密集型工作。
一位牲畜进口商告诉礁石建设者,现在整个东南亚都缺乏铁饼,因为没有人像以前那样繁殖它们。泰国的养鱼者不想出去,因为他们不想赶上库维德。
They also said that for one airline, in the absence of passengers, shipping flat-screen TVs proved more lucrative than shipping fish as cargo, and with fewer risks.
So just like with key electricals, there are fewer fish available, and those that are making it through are subject to higher freight charges than ever before.
持久的遗产
进口和分销公司受到影响最大,尽管有些产品比其他产品更大。Small, high ticket items like compact LED lamps or wavemakers may survive having their share of $16k container freight divided up amongst them but the low value or bulky goods won’t as their pricing models weren’t ever calculated to include such high freight and transportation costs…unless we are all prepared to pay more.
而且,如果这些货物确实可以到达港口道路运输成本,那么驾驶员的距离很高,至少在欧洲,驾驶员都短缺。一位水上运动供应商表示,解决该问题的全球需求和船舶的增加将需要减少。但是,随着消费者渴望全球新产品,零售商和品牌正在推动新产品和推出。