How bad are global shipping snafus? Home Depot contracted its own container ship as a safeguard – By Melissa Repko (CNBC) / June 13 2021
- Home Depot has reserved its own ship, bought merchandise on the spot market and flown in power tools as it copes with supply chain headaches.
- The pandemic has created complexities that have ricocheted across the globe, from congested ports to soaring consumer demand.
- One of the most recent challenges is a Covid-19 outbreak in southern China.
Home Depot is one of the largest importers in the country. Yet with congested ports, container shortages and Covid-19 outbreaks slowing shipments, the company made a decision: It was time to get its own boat.
“We have a ship that’s solely going to be ours and it’s just going to go back and forth with 100% dedicated to Home Depot,” Chief Operating Officer Ted Decker said in an interview. It marks the first time that the company has taken such a step.
Decker said the contracted ship, which will begin running next month, is just one example of the unusual measures that the company is taking as it copes with challenges that have ricocheted across the global supply chain.
On rare occasions, Home Depot has also flown in power tools, faucets, electrical components, fasteners and other “smaller, higher value items” by air freight, he said. In other cases, it has opted to buy items on the spot market — even though it can cost as much as four times more than contracted rates.
