The global shipping crisis that manifested itself throughout the latter part of 2020 is proving to be an ‘increasingly alarming situation’ for a vast number of suppliers in the aquarium and water gardening industry.
That’s the view of Mark Winter, managing director of Aqua Pacific UK, home to leading aquatic brand Aqua One.
“Shipping rates have gone from 3,000 US dollars for a 40ft container in October 2020, to 16,000 US dollars in June 2021,” said Mark. “Those are ex-China rates but the percentage increases are similar from all over the world. This is also affecting production costs on products made in Europe, as imported components and raw materials are being pushed up to record price levels.
“As well as the cost issues, suppliers are facing problems over availability of space on container ships. Global demand has far outstretched available space on all shipping lines fleets. We ourselves have probably 40-50 orders from the past four to five months we still can’t ship because we can’t get space or equipment – a physical container, for example –…
