Enlarge image
Ningbo-Zhoushan container port: Ships could not be processed for a long time
Photo: Yao Feng / Imaginechina / AP
Anyone who has just ordered a new piece of furniture may have to be patient.
German furniture suppliers currently report average delivery times of eight weeks, six are normal.
The problem does not affect the furniture industry alone.
Other companies are also eagerly awaiting deliveries from the Far East.
The reason is a gigantic traffic jam off the Chinese east coast - triggered by a corona case in Ningbo-Zhoushan.
Two weeks ago a dock worker had tested positive there.
One terminal was closed.
In the meantime, various supply chains in the global economy have stalled.
As the third largest container port in the world, Ningbo-Zhoushan is usually one of the main hubs for international freight traffic.
The handling volume is more than three times what is handled annually in the Port of Hamburg.
The ships that call at Ningbo-Zhoushan can transport up to 24,000 containers.
Now the huge pots are heading for other ports such as Shanghai, Shenzhen-Yantian, Hong Kong or Busan without having been processed - and in doing so they get caught in a huge traffic jam.
Four freighters from the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd are currently in the thick of it.
The closed terminal in Ningbo-Zhoushan was reopened this Wednesday.
But that won't solve the problem anytime soon.
Because the traffic jam has already formed - and it should take weeks for the situation to normalize to some extent.
Sports equipment, bicycles and televisions are also in short supply
The incident in Ningbo-Zhoushan is the third major setback for global container traffic this year.
In March the freighter "Ever Given" blocked the Suez Canal for days.
At the end of May, the southern Chinese port of Shenzhen-Yantian ceased operations due to a corona outbreak - and thus caused another mega-traffic jam.
If many freighters cannot be processed, this has massive effects on the supply chain every time.
German customers currently not only have to wait for furniture, but also for sports equipment, bicycles or paint that is loaded on the ships.
In addition, the arrival of large electronic devices such as televisions, washing machines and dishwashers is being delayed.
And it won't get any better anytime soon.
"We expect that the current challenges cannot be resolved before the first quarter of 2022 and that they will also have an impact on the German market by then," says Rolf Habben Jansen, head of Hapag Lloyd.
The shipping company does not see an alternative to cargo ships in the near future.
China has made freight trains more attractive through the New Silk Road, but ships can simply transport more containers.
Habben Jansen is not alone in his pessimistic view.
Peter Sand, chief analyst of the international shipping association BIMCO, says it will take more than a year for supply chains around the world to stabilize.
For the largest German container port in Hamburg, the delays could mean that the ships arrive in rush hour, says ship expert Sand.
There could be days when many of the increasingly larger freighters arrive in Hamburg and other, idle days.
It remains to be seen how port logistics will cope with this.
This year, companies can no longer rely on intact supply chains.
And that also has an impact on prices.
Most companies struggle to get freight containers on ships.
Because they are scarce and therefore extremely expensive: the trend-setting Drewry World Container Index has shot up by 360 percent over the course of a year.
There are practically no free charter ships at the moment.
Many wholesale products in particular have already become significantly more expensive.
In July, prices here rose by an average of 11.3 percent compared to the same month last year.
The last time such a leap occurred at the time of the first oil crisis in 1974.
The dealers are already thinking about the Christmas business
Some experts expect it to continue in a similar way.
"Rising prices for intermediate consumption could fuel inflation even longer if the shortages persisted in a similar form into the coming year," says Jürgen Matthes from the employer-related Institute of German Economy (IW).
The IW believes that short-term price increases are likely.
And the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) also came to the conclusion in a recent survey that two thirds of companies in all sectors passed the price increases on to customers.
Demand is not going to drop anytime soon.
If Europe is spared another corona lockdown, the economy and consumer confidence should continue to pick up.
That too could drive up prices and extend delivery times.
The traders in this country are now preparing for the Christmas business, the most important time of the year for them. And German consumers should also start looking for gifts as early as possible this year - at least if they come from the Far East. Otherwise the space under the Christmas tree could remain unusually empty this time.
