Book early…to ensure a Christmas cheer

Europa Air & Sea is advising customers to plan ahead, and get their peak bookings firmed up early because of the current unpredictable landscape, with festive peaks extending against a backdrop of supply chain volatility.

The specialist operator Europa Air and Sea has grown rapidly over the past two years, significantly increasing its branch network in the UK and opening strategically located branches in Hong Kong, Dubai, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Delhi to service its international customer base.

The lasting and combined effect of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is having an impact on seasonal trends across retail, wholesale and the e-commerce landscape, challenging the traditional Christmas peak with sales periods extending and starting earlier.

In 2023 for example, some reports show that retail sales, both online and in store were spread across the whole month of November as companies extended sales over a longer period. One report suggested that there is also a new shopping phenomenon [1]Super Sunday which overtook Black Friday by 13.5 per cent, demonstrating shifting habits.

Against this backdrop, Europa is urging customer to plan to ensure stock arrives ahead of changing peak periods, to ensure commercial opportunities are not missed and shelves bare.

Angus Hind, Director of Europa Air & Sea comments “With container rates increasing by double digits in the last six to eight weeks and the ongoing challenge of the red sea we’re in a phase of real uncertainly as we enter peak booking for the festive period.

“These rate increases are a culmination of many issues but are significantly impacted by the continued crisis in the Red Sea, which has been ongoing since December, meaning that sailings to Europe sails around Africa instead of the Suez Canal, adding 7-10 days in each direction. This has therefore put huge pressure on the stockpiles of the carrier’s equipment and both shortages and port congestion at main transit points are a common theme at present.

“This is further compounded by EU legislation, introduced in Jan 2024; to charge for shipments in European ports, this will be the first season impacted by the legislation.

The EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS) came into force on January 1 this year because of the increasing regulatory measures designed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for vessels passing through European waters and docking at European ports. It applies to cargo and passenger ships above 5,000 GT.

He continued “Announcements in June by some shipping lines that there would be capacity shortages may have resulted in the increase in rates. This year it is very hard to predict what will happen next. We see many brands and retailers are holding off to see if current spike in costs is temporary. But our advice is to book early to ensure you are ready.”

“With so many challenges at present this is again the perfect storm, which could have potentially devastating impacts, especially for retailers who are coming out of a challenging trading year so far in 2024. It’s never too early to plan for peak as again retailers are vulnerable to such huge international incidents which are completely outside of our control.

“We can support businesses whatever the challenge and our team has the depth of knowledge and experience to help navigate these of uncertainties.”