Dublin and Cork ports likely to avoid worst of Christmas supply chaos

Cormac Kennedy, Head of Property at Dublin Port Company with Declan Freeman, Managing Director of ICG’s Container at the new €48m Dublin Inland. FIle Picture

Irish ports may avoid the worst effects of the lingering global supply chain squeeze in the run-up to Christmas through a lessening reliance on chaos-stricken UK ports and having no container capacity constraints.

That said, Dublin Port has not ruled out Ireland being impacted by the crisis and suffering some goods shortages through a temporary drop in freight volume. But, overall, it said it is still targeting rising freight volumes and has no capacity concerns.

“Dublin Port Company does not see any capacity issues within the Port. This is not to say that the supply chains will not have issues,” a spokesperson for Dublin Port Company said.

Dublin Port said it will open its new €48m Dublin Inland Port facility – increasing capacity at the port – early next month.

Port of Cork, meanwhile, is making provision for factors that may negatively impact on trade volumes in some of its activities, such as shortages of electrical components, surging energy prices and the cost of critical raw materials and their resultant impact on Irish manufacturers, in particular.

“Unlike many ports however, we don’t face any capacity constraints in the immediate term, as we look to open our new state-of-the-art container terminal,” a Port of Cork spokesperson said.

“This will effectively double our unitised cargo capacity. Also, in the last 18 months we’ve actually increased our connectivity significantly with additional direct freight routes into the heart of Europe,” they said.

Direct sailings by all lines from Ireland to the continent expanded to 44 from only 12 before Brexit and have helped Irish exporters and importers to bypass the snarl-ups at channel ports previously reached by the so-called land-bridge through England or Scotland.

However, a tropical storm that’s lashing southern China, mixed with Covid-related supply chain snarls is causing a ship backlog from Shenzhen to Singapore, intensifying fears retail shelves may look rather empty come Christmas and threatening more supply hold-ups for Europe.

Congestion at container terminals around the world is adding pressure to already stretched supply chains. Covid-19 cases at ports, along with shortages of shipping containers and labour have aggravated the problem as exporters try to send goods to the US and Europe before the end of the year.

Exporters and shipping companies have been trying to find alternative routes to avoid the backlog. Some cargo from China is now being shipped to Busan and then reloaded on ships bound for Russia’s east coast before being put on trains and sent through to Europe.

The US government announced on Wednesday that the Port of Los Angeles will begin operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week as part of efforts to break the logjam.

Swedish home-furnishings giant Ikea has given a bleak outlook for the retail industry, saying it expects shortages from the supply-chain crisis to remain an issue through the middle of next year.

“The biggest challenge has been getting products out of China, where there has been a very limited capacity,” chief executive Jon Abrahamsson Ring of Inter Ikea, the worldwide franchiser for the brand, said.

“Shipping companies and other stakeholders are trying to resolve the backlog because there are real concerns that many year-end holiday goods will never reach consumers in time,” said Um Kyung-a, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities in Seoul. “This month will be the most challenging period but hopefully things will start to ease from the fourth quarter.”

- additional reporting: Bloomberg