Global Shipping Challenges & Planning Ahead for the Balance of 2021

Greetings from the cockpit in Oaxaca. As I’m sure many of you are now aware, the world is in the throes of a global shipping quandary. The main culprits are a physical container shortage and congested, understaffed ports across the world leading to containers left sitting at port docks. Fewer ships are running on transit lines as well, and each of these issues is further compounding the others at every step of the transit process. 

In the case of the West Coast we are seeing availability for pick up at The Annex from arrival to port of Oakland up from roughly 10-12 days to closer to 20. Ports of New Jersey, Houston and Charleston are moving at a more efficient pace, though slightly slower than pre-pandemic times. New container construction costs themselves have risen as much as 60%, and containers already in circulation are also moving slower for all the above reasons: delays leaving port, passing through interim ports, and being emptied and sent back. All of that has pushed shipping rates to recent highs—highs that we unfortunately expect to last through the year and beyond. 

We continue to place large emphasis on the work we do in the logistical center of the supply chain. We’re well aware that a tremendous measure of our value to you, our clients, is in delivering fresh coffee in the timeliest manner. We’re only as good as our last arrival into port from each and every producing origin we work in. We want you to know that our logistics crew are constantly exploring the quickest avenues to each of the warehouses we currently allocate coffee to in North America and abroad. In many instances, we are rerouting containers through different ports, or, in the case of Mexico, moving coffee by land to avoid delays and ensure your coffee’s integrity on arrival. These changes are critical for us to deliver the freshest coffee possible. 

Please feel free to reach out to me or your Red Fox rep directly with any questions or for more details—we’re here to support you in any way we can. We’re happy to talk through what this means for you specifically or more generally. 

Cheers,

Aleco