Packages and closures for packaging

How do intercontinental cruise ship operators dictate conditions to the entire world?

Recently, we have been forced to again raise the prices of our products.
We feel obliged to explain the reason for these changes.

In the recent two years, so from the moment of the pandemic outbreak, the costs of transport of a container on intercontinental routes have increased eight times.
The prices of our products depend on many factors, among others exactly on shipowner rates.
Freight prices are the subject of numerous talks we conduct with forwarding companies with which we have been cooperating for years, not only asking for explanations, but also negotiating fees.
The possibilities for negotiations are very limited, while justifications for the steadily rising prices succinct.

What do we know about the reasons for the current situation, which very soon will affect the prices of most products, as maritime transportation concerns not only plastics, but as a principle everything -  from chemical, food, pharmaceutical to metallurgy components, and ready-to-use daily products?
The main argument which is still alive among ship operators is the Suez Canal blockage. It is necessary to know that the owner of the unlucky ship was charged with a high penalty to make up for the losses incurred by the owner of the canal, i.e. the Egyptian government. The blockage took place towards the end of March, after several days everything became smooth again, and soon after more container ships reached their ports of destination and operations took its regular course. Still, however, this spectacular incident is treated as the cause of the increase in the costs of shipowners...
Another problem is the lack of containers in circulation.
At the time when the export of European goods was strongly limited, it was difficult to fill the ships with goods, and transportation of empty containers was carried out only partly. Today, import and export returned to the ‘prepandemic’ status. Observing the movement of ships, one may notice that before they take their course to the port of destination, they travel around European ports in order to collect empty, single containers.
It is surprising that nobody has undertaken to introduce a sufficient number of new containers to the market, which would be the most reasonable solution.

Blank Service – joker in the freight gameplay

We receive information that there is no space on a ship, and therefore that it is impossible to pack the goods. It seems that it results from a reduced number of cruises. If a cargo vessel operator has a scheduled course which is not filled 100% with goods then even several days before the planned loading they inform that they have no space on a ship for the goods contracted for sailing out. The cruise is cancelled, and the cargo transmitted to the next ship or to the end of a long line for loading.
A sad practice are auctions on the shore. Contracting a spot for a container on a given ship and paying for the transport up front unfortunately not always guarantees that the cargo will set out on a journey. Sometimes it turns out that there is a client who is able to pay a double rate to jump the line and load their container first. Then freight from the regular list is moved to the next ships.

The above clarifications concern the traffic between Europe and Asia, yet it is known that prices are skyrocketing in ship companies servicing the routes to the Americas, irrespective of what is happening in Europe. The argumentation of freight ship owners appears to be only an excuse. Therefore, one may not believe these 'reasonable” arguments.
The latest press releases inform about 'immoral prices” and 'record levels of transportation costs”.

Looking for an answer to the question why this is the case, we heard an irrefutable argument that ship owners are private entrepreneurs who may dictate prices at their own discretion.
We cannot forget that none of the continents is self-sufficient. Import and export take place on all levels of the economy, from small decorations which can be found on stalls in holiday resorts to electronic components, coal, raw materials for the production of metal elements, to plastics or pharmacological products, cosmetics and detergents.
The increase in transportation costs in real terms is translated into the prices of all goods and products.
Even now we hear from our contractors that the production costs of cosmetics and detergents are increasing, which results from the prices of import from Asian countries of raw materials necessary for their manufacture.
For several long months the market of plastics has been dealing with the lack of availability and fluctuations of prices of semi-finished products for polymer production. At the moment, an additional factor is the cost of transportation of raw materials.
Carton producers whose activity relies on cardboard from other parts of the world are forced to continuously increase the prices of their products.
Economic correlations resemble thousands of gears which function effectively and in a steady rhythm. However, when the work of but one of them is accelerated or suspended, the entire system suffers.
In the last two years we have become convinced that a disturbance of the entire system may come from surprising and unpredicted sources.
Today, the responsibility for the uncontrolled price increase is on the owners of container ships.

The information shared by the forwarding industry representatives tells us that as for now the situation will not change anytime soon.  Ship owners understood that they are able to earn more and more and they take advantage of the undisturbed conditions to multiply benefits. No other premises, unfortunately, guide their behaviour.
Not without much concern we also observe increasing prices in domestic transport and a surprising surge of the prices of pallets.
Recently, the price of one pallet doubled and we are afraid that this trend will not end soon. That is why we are already carefully monitoring the situation, we are searching for competitive carriers and propose the most optimal solutions. Yet, still we do not forget that we cannot resign from the quality of services for their price.
We have to be patient and together endure each and every adversity and remain hopeful for a return to 'normal', also in this aspect.
We would like to inform that all the time we monitor the railway transportation costs, which, as you may suspect, increased in the recent times almost proportionally along with the maritime transport.
For the past two years we have been put to various tests which - as humans, as collaborators and as businesspeople - we are successfully passing!
We do not give up in difficult moments!
We are doing our best to function smoothly and give to our Customers a sense that you can count on us in crisis situations.
We use and will be using out best efforts that consumers' favourite products equipped with our closures are always on the shelves!
                

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