At the time of writing this, the situation in the Middle East continues to evolve with no short-term outlook for a ceasefire. This is resulting in significant disruptions to international air and sea transportation. The airspace across the Middle East is closed or heavily restricted, and ocean freight routes such as the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab El-Madeb straight, are currently closed. This is causing a severe bottleneck in the Gulf areas which has stopped carriers from utilising the Suez Canal also.
Whilst AFC Europe have very limited direct supply from the Middle East, the ongoing conflict is effecting global supply as follows:
- Rerouting of both Air and Sea shipments causing extended lead-times and increased fuel costs
- Air capacity restraints – approx. 13% reduction in global airfreight capacity – approx. 35-40% reduction in Asia to Europe capacity
- Rising oil costs resulting in higher fuel costs
What are AFC doing to minimise the disruption for our customers?
- We are closely monitoring developments and will update this information periodically.
- We are in a good position with contingency stocks for all imported items but are actively reviewing incoming shipments to ensure we minimise any risk to supply.
- We are communicating with our customers and increasing our contingency stock levels, where required, to ensure we order goods well in advance to mitigate any delays. We encourage all customers to place orders early and increase on hand stocks during this uncertain time.
- We are working with our global qualified supply chain for alternative supply, as required and agreed with our customers.
Please rest assured that we are doing everything practically possible to minimise the risk of supply.
Continue to liaise with your AFC Europe sales team for the latest updates.