Offshore indent orders, in the last couple of years have seen an increase to turnaround times. With sea and air freight affected, this article answers the question “are you allowing enough time for producing your offshore Indent orders in 2022?”
Why do I need to allow more time for shipping my indent orders in 2022?
We have recently received notifications from our Chinese suppliers that early in 2022, China will effectively close for six weeks.
Chinese New Year is celebrated 1st February, equivalent to New Zealand’s – Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Following these festivities, Beijing will be hosting the Winter Olympics throughout February. The government in China require a large number of manufacturing plants to close, improving the air quality for the games.
How long do I need to allow for indent orders out of China for orders placed in February?
We would advise:
Sea freight, 5-6 months
Air freight, 3.5 months
What ongoing factors should I be aware of for sea freight?
Sea freight has seen blockages for containers in and out of New Zealand’s ports. New Zealand has a large agricultural export market, compared to the substantial proportion of imports being retail goods.
Retail goods come in on standard containers, our exported goods need specialist containers – the ability to keep fresh goods cool. This has created a large volume of empty standard containers at our ports, slowing new containers from coming onto our shores.
What ongoing factors should I be aware of for air freight?
With our borders closed to overseas travellers, less flights will land in New Zealand, affecting the volume of goods coming into the country. Air freight has also increased in demand as an alternative option to sea freight.
How long do I need to allow for indent orders out of China for orders placed after February?
We would advise:
Sea freight, 4.5-5 months
Air freight, 2.5 months
Have you seen a shift in the way people are purchasing indent orders?
There is high demand for imported goods with reduced space to land them, increasing both the cost of imports and time to get them here.
In the recent past, companies have tended to stock leanly – buying only minimal stocks needed for an expected amount of time. The trend is now shifting. Increasingly, companies are buying larger volumes of goods. There are 2 main reasons:
– Accounting for unforeseen delays, the view it is better to have stock than potentially run out.
– Financial gain, purchasing larger quantities sooner is reducing the cost of goods as the market value steadily increases with higher demands.
However, you choose to plan your year ahead, we hope the transparency of this article has been helpful in answering key questions for stock, 2022.