The container crisis pushes Coca-Cola to change transport

Container shipping charges have gotten so out of hand that Coca-Cola Co.To help your business keep operating, you move your cargoes to ships typically used only by industrial product operators.

Normally, the company transports materials around the world in the same 20-foot steel crates that carry everything from toys to bicycles. With these booming markets and limited capacity, Coca Cola chose to use three so-called bulk carriers, typically used to transport products like coal and iron ore, to move 60,000 tonnes of cargo, Alan wrote. Smith in a LinkedIn post, the company’s purchasing director.

“When containers or space cannot be found due to the current maritime transport crisis, you have to think outside the box”Smith said.

The great advantage of using containers is that they are part of a well-established logistics chain that efficiently transports goods from where they are manufactured to where they are used. Bulk carriers can be cheaper, but they can be less convenient as loads have to move to and from ports.

To give an idea of ​​what Coca-Cola and many multinationals are up against, the cost per 40-foot equivalent container to transport cargo to Rotterdam from Shanghai is US $ 14,558, according to data from Drewry Shipping. Prices this year have climbed to higher multiples than seen for at least the past decade.

The loads that Coca-Cola moved normally would have filled 2,800 20-foot steel containers. This change is “the first in a long series that we expect in the coming months and an excellent example of the excellent collaboration between our purchasing, logistics and suppliers teams,” he said.

The containerized freight market is so tight that there has even been a demand for some bulk carriers., so called because they move loads in bulk and not in containers, to move crates on their decks.

Unfortunately for companies that charter ships, even the transport of bulk cargo is also booming. The Baltic Dry Index, a general measure of the cost of chartering these vessels, hit a 13-year high of 5,409 points on Tuesday, according to London’s Baltic Exchange.

If this continues, and Some believe it can happen, Coca-Cola’s solution to the container crisis will start to lose its appeal.