Supply Chain Disruptions And China’s Power Crisis Threaten To Sour The Holiday Experience – By Ram Susarla (IB Times) / Oct 10 2021
- Shipments of everything from smartphones to cars to Christmas toys are getting delayed
- The energy crisis in China is adding to production disruptions
- Retailers are requesting customers to order well before the holiday season starts
As if the chaos and confusion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were not enough, there is another crisis staring at the West as it approaches the start of the holiday season. A power crisis in the world’s factory, China, and supply chain disruptions are predicted to lead to shortages for almost everything that we take for granted in modern life, from smartphones to computer chips to cars. Christmas presents, especially children’s toys, are likely to be in short supply, leaving Santa with more sorrow than joy as he prepares to go from home to home.
How did we get here? For one there is the shipping crisis. Ninety percent of the world’s trade moves via the sea now, and a tangled set of factors, from a shortage of containers to massive traffic jams at the world’s ports are contributing to inordinate delays and choking the supply of goods. With Just-in-Time supply chains, even a holdup of a few days at any of the “links” can cause a cascading effect, including stretching the last mile delivery schedules.
It is so bad some big retailers are going to the extent of contracting their own ships to get their orders to their stores in time.
According to CBC, retailers are already panicking and some say that only 40% of what they have ordered are reaching them in time, raising worries the shortages wont be addressed fully before the holiday shopping season. Then there is the power crisis in China, which is complicating matters, even raising the worrying specter of a halt in production of goods.
