After months of suffering, the problem of global supply chain bottlenecks showed signs of solutions, and economists expressed cautious optimism about the future of the crisis, which contributed to high inflation rates in all major economies around the world.
In Asia, factory closures due to the coronavirus, power shortages and port capacity limits have eased in recent weeks.
US importers also said they imported most of what they needed for the holiday season, and sea freight rates had fallen to record levels.
However, executives and economists say strong consumer demand for goods in the West, persistent port congestion in the United States, a shortage of truck drivers and rising global freight rates are still overshadowing any recovery.
Shipping, manufacturing and retail managers note that they do not expect a return to normal operations until next year, and that shipments will continue to be delayed, if a new outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic disrupts major distribution centers, according to the American Wall Street Journal.
Reducing choke points in the supply chain would allow production to move towards meeting strong demand and reduce logistics costs, and if this continues, this will in turn help reduce inflation, according to the newspaper.
Shipping and retail managers say they expect the US ports to be unloaded in early 2022, after the holiday shopping season.
Trans-Pacific freight rates have fallen in recent weeks, as the cost of moving a container across the Pacific fell by more than a quarter last week, the biggest drop in two years.
"Globally, we have left the worst of the worst in terms of supply chain problems," Louis Koes, head of Asian economics at Oxford Economics, told the Wall Street Journal.
Any missteps, such as the repeated temporary closure of the Chinese port of Ningbo-Zhoushan last August, due to a case of "Covid-19" infection was found, could cause freight rates to rise again.
In Vietnam, owners in the country's southern manufacturing hub said production is much smoother than it was several months ago, but challenges remain, including high shipping costs and labor shortages, as many workers who have returned to their villages during a wave COVID-19, they are not back to work yet.
In China, the energy crisis that hit the country's manufacturing centers earlier this fall has eased in recent weeks, after the authorities allowed coal-fired power plants to charge higher prices.
Other factory owners say they are still struggling to deal with bottlenecks.
Since June this year, boxes full of auto parts have been piling up in the warehouse of Zhejiang Songtian Parts Industry Corporation, as more importers from the West have stopped buying, amid rising freight rates.
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