News that the Suez Canal is blocked has been rocking not just the shipping industry — but everything it conveys to consumers, including coffee beans. The price of robusta is surging on prospects that supplies flowing through the strategic waterway from Southeast Asia to Europe will be late. At the same time, a lower arabica-crop outlook in top grower Brazil, along with a global container shortage, is depressing U.S. bean stockpiles. Whither the price of a cup?
While we are saddened by the recent shipping blockage in the Suez Canal, there has been news on global disruption of supply chain and shortage of Coffee Beans supply. We at King Coffee would like to assure all our partners that our coffee supplies are not affected and we will continue delivering high quality coffee product for exports globally. #kingcoffee #coffee #specialtycoffee #suezcanal #shipping #logistics
“The current expectation is that it will take some 2 days to clear the canal which will cause the delay of 110,000 TEU of cargo,” #supplychain #logistics #coffee #freight #cargo
?????Author | ?? ?? World of Shipping Portugal | External Expert for the EU Commission ???? | Mentor | Former Deck Officer ????
Grounding on the Suez Canal is an operational issue. I know that the impact on the movement of goods is enormous since both north and southbound convoys get stuck and depending upon the time it takes to solve the issue, the number of vessels queuing to go through it will increase. It will take a couple of days to clear out the congestion on both sides of the Canal. However, going through the Canal is not very easy. The Canal is a very narrow navigation lane that requires much attention to keep the vessel steady. The Canal pilot experience is critical. There can be areas in the Canal where the under-keel clearance is 1 foot. Yes, 30 cms. This explains why vessels can not go beyond a certain speed. If you increase the vessel’s speed, there is a ‘squat effect’ that attracts the vessel to the bottom and Voilá! Vessels are magnetic fields, and the earth has its magnetism, so it is quite easy to run aground there. This is also why vessels beyond certain sizes have escort tugs. Also, the Canal is surrounded by sand and water transports sediments and there is also the navigational ‘Canal effect’. So, if the Canal is not constantly dredged, not even the most experienced crew or Canal pilot can avoid the unavoidable. And we hope that that the Canal gets cleared soon!
There is currently a ship stuck in the Suez Canal blocking all ship traffic. I wonder how long it will be before someone sends me a price escalation letter based on shipping delays. I also heard there is a potential coffee shortage brewing (pun intended). Can't make this stuff up.... #costescalation #guestimating