Kik and Rossmann warn of delivery bottlenecks: "Will definitely lead to price increases"

The bottlenecks in trade have led to drastic increases in freight rates.

The heads of Rossmann and Kik warn that consumers in Germany will soon feel this too.

Munich - According to estimates by leading trading companies, the ongoing disruptions in global freight traffic will soon also be felt by consumers in Germany.

"We have great difficulties in getting freight capacity for our orders on the ships," said the boss of the textile discounter Kik, Patrick Zahn, the

Handelsblatt

.

"In the most important time of the year, we lack the goods."

In view of the tight transport capacities, freight rates are increasing rapidly.

Consumers will soon see the consequences of this development at the checkout, too, warns Zahn: “It will not be possible to avoid price increases in retail,” warned the Kik boss.

Roßmann boss: It is becoming more and more difficult to get goods into the shops on time

The boss of the Rossmann drugstore chain, Raoul Roßmann, made a similar statement.

Because of the disrupted supply chains, it is becoming more and more difficult "to get goods from Asia into the shops on time," said Roßmann of the business newspaper.

The sharp rise in freight costs will therefore "definitely lead to price increases in retail".

According to an overview by the industry specialist Drewry, the transport of a 40-foot standard container currently costs around 8,300 dollars on average.

That is a good 300 percent more than a year ago.

On particularly popular routes such as the Shanghai-Rotterdam or Shanghai-Genoa route, the price increase of a good 400 percent to around 12,000 dollars is even more severe.

At the beginning of June alone, spot prices for a container climbed by a good 15 percent within a week.

More and more retailers are now getting into trouble.

Because in many containers there are products with a large volume but little value on the way, such as garden furniture made in China.

If the total value is around $ 30,000 but transportation costs increase by $ 8,000, the companies' calculations are wasted.

Price increases are therefore almost inevitable.

Container congestion: US demand and port standstill are an acid test for logistics chains

The development has numerous causes.

The blockade of the Suez Canal by the Ever Given at the end of March * dealt a severe blow to world trade, which was already stalling.

In addition, US consumption has been rising steeply for weeks with the progress in the vaccination campaign.

In May alone, retail sales were almost a third higher than in the same period of the previous year.

Clothing, electronics, household appliances and furniture are particularly popular with US consumers.

Finally, there was also the extensive closure of the world's fourth largest port in Yantian, China.

In the meantime, operations on the Chinese Pearl River Delta are back to normal.

But now there is a lack of containers, storage space on ships, truck capacities or pallets worldwide.

Many ports are at the limit *.

Container jam: Expert warns - "We haven't seen it like this"

Industry experts are accordingly concerned. "Such a situation", sums up the boss of the online retailer Berlin Brands Group (BBG), Peter Chaljawski, "we have never seen it in logistics". The situation is now "dramatic" for many. But a quick improvement is hardly in sight. A relaxation, Chaljawski told the

Handelsblatt

, can only be expected in the first quarter of 2022.

* Merkur.de is part of IPPEN.DIGITAL.