Threat to supplies as shipping costs soar

“The ships are full, so we can’t get the containers on to the ships,” he said, adding that it’s only big multinationals in Europe that can really afford the current shipping costs.

He said that another key reason for the rapid rise in costs is a shortage of containers to ship product as companies across Europe build up supplies.

“I just quoted a guy who will pay me $8,500 for a 40ft container to be shipped from China,” said Mr O’Brien. He said that some importers are being forced to pay the higher prices because they have contracts with retailers here, for example, that they must fill.

“In September that would have cost $2,500,” he said. “It’s a huge increase. Back in July, it was $1,750 for the same container. For the first half of November, it was about $4,800. Until Monday this week it was $4,900.”

Air freight costs have also as much as tripled as a big proportion of the world’s passenger jets remain grounded, resulting in limited capacity.

Mr O’Brien said most of his clients’ imports include the likes of furnishings, cosmetics, patio stone, as well as other items for garden centres and vehicle tyres.

“I don’t know what garden centres are going to do at the end of January or into February when people start looking for products,” he said.

A spokesman for Woodies DIY, which is owned by the stock market-listed Grafton Group, said freight costs out of Asia have “risen dramatically”.

“Though the vast majority of our products are sourced in other markets and freight is just one input, it is a concern and one we will be monitoring carefully,” he said. “It is too soon to speculate about price impact, but the hope is that our diversity of sources and higher volumes should mitigate any impact for Woodies customers.”

Mark Tracey, the commercial director with Ace Express Freight, also thinks that consumer choice could be more limited in the spring for certain products.

“Rates for importing from the UK have doubled,” he said. That’s a result of seasonal demand, which sees retailers such as Amazon pay a premium to guarantee delivery space, but also the end of the Brexit transition period.

“It’s gone ballistic at the moment,” he said. “It’s hard to control. There’s a slow realisation that this is actually going to happen.”

He said even now some importers are still trying to secure storage space for products they’re trying to ship to Ireland before the Brexit transition period comes to an end in two weeks’ time.

He said his clients’ imports from the UK include construction material, some speciality food and other dry freight. From China, imports include a wide range of products furniture, toys, construction and home improvement material.

Mr Tracey predicted that consumers “may not have as much choice” for a broad range of products by early next year.

Mr O’Brien hopes that shipping prices will ease after the Chinese New Year, which falls on February 12.