News
Business Update - November 2020
Nov 30, 2020Business Update
2020 has been one of the most extraordinary years in our history which has seen us learning how to live with one of the world’s deadliest viruses, Covid-19. We have all watched with sadness as some of the retail and hospitality sectors have struggled to keep their businesses going under the restrictions imposed to help safeguard the vulnerable but with several promising vaccines in the pipeline there is hopefully some light at the end of the tunnel for an end to the Pandemic.
As usual at Ryder Hub, we continue to adapt and change to ensure that the business keeps going and come through COVID-19 so far with the help of our extraordinary staff who have all come together to ensure that all services to our customers have been uninterrupted.
Unfortunately we believe we are heading for more turbulence in our marketplace in the coming year… With
even more uncertainty in what the future holds, I feel that I must let you know that we will have to re-look at our prices on-going, which may mean that we will have no alternative than to increase our prices.
I would like you to know that this decision will not be taken lightly, we will absorb some of the increases where/if we can but I am sure you will appreciate that for us to stay in business, when prices are increased to us unfortunately there is sometimes no alternative but for us to increase our prices to our customers. The challenges that we are now facing are as below:
Increase In Freight Charges - Why?
The main reason that freight has increased is mostly that there is currently more demand than capacity for shipping space. During the beginning of the pandemic in China the number of containers that were being filled and shipped decreased significantly, simply due to the stock not being made. This subsequently meant that the shipping lines did not need as many vessels to be operating or as many containers made.
Now that China and the rest of the World are getting back on their feet and have learned to adapt to the Covid way of life, the number of containers needing to be shipped from China and other Asian countries has increased to a higher rate than normal. Unfortunately, even though the demand has increased, the supply of containers and vessels have not, which leads us into a battle of who can get space on the ships and thus leading to the shipping lines increasing prices – just because they know they can. The demand for containers and space is currently running at 150% of capacity. We have a set freight rate for Q4, which ends on 31st December. Even though this rate is supposed to be set for 3 months, due to the space issues caused by the shippers, we have already seen our agreed rates quadruple since October.
It is not, however, just freight that has increased in cost, the shipping lines have now imposed a peak season surcharge for docking in the UK, which at the moment is ranging between $300-$600 per HQ this is on top of our agreed rate and we have no choice but to pay it. This is due to November being busier than usual thanks to Brexit and people being left with little stock due to the surge of sales Phoenix Fitness and Myga Yoga items. There is also an issue with a lot of shippers not wanting to even stop here because of the time they must sit waiting at the docks before the containers are unloaded.
The average time waiting time at Felixstowe for vessels is 32 hours, this compares to the average of 24 hours in other large ports in countries such as Germany and America. This has led to the shippers adding on another extra charge of $350 per HQ for congestion.
All of the above plus the fact that Chinese New Year is looming means that freight rates and extra charges are only going one way and that is up. Unfortunately, we have no way of saying what our next rates will be from January but simply looking at how unstable they are at the minute, we are in for a substantial increase as there are no signs of the situation improving.
What Are Ryder Hub Doing To Support You?
We will be reviewing pricing on 8th Feb 2021, however any forward orders placed before this time will be honoured.
As of November 2020 we will not be offering any company credit, this will save Ryder Hub 8% per year and allows us to pass this saving on to our customers via pricing. As you are all aware Ryder Hub has never used middlemen, we are the manufacturer, importer and distributer meaning there are no inflated prices, just the best prices, allow us to quote you on any import requirements we know we can beat any company and allow you better margins.
Thank you all for your continued support and I hope that we can continue to support each other through these ever-uncertain times.