Red Sea Attacks: Global Retailers Seek Alternative Supply Routes

Retailers worldwide are stocking up on goods before China’s Lunar New Year holiday and seeking air or rail alternatives to transportation via the Red Sea in a scramble to avoid empty shelves this spring, according to executives and experts

One European retailer said it was delaying marketing campaigns for some specific goods until stocks were secured.

Major container ship operators like Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) and Hapag-Lloyd (HLAG.DE) are re-routing vessels away from the Suez Canal – the shortest route from Asia to Europe – after militant attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

The diversions have raised fears of another prolonged disruption to global trade just as supply chains unsnarl after the COVID pandemic.

Going around southern Africa instead adds $1 million in fuel costs and about 10 days to the journey.

Interviews with five retailers selling everything from furniture to mechanical components, and with analysts, show the unusual steps companies are taking to adapt.

U.S

U.S.-based BDI Furniture is front-loading orders and relying more on factories in Turkey and Vietnam.

It is also asking freight brokers to bypass the Panama and Suez canals and ship goods across the Pacific Ocean to California, where they can be transported by rail to its east coast U.S. warehouse.

Reuters/Hauwa Abu