The Ever Given, currently blocking the vitally import Suez Canal should worry us all. 10% per ccent of world trade passes through this very narrow, ancient waterway between the mainland Egypt and the Sinai peninsula.
The impact for the UK and Europe is far larger; as its the most common transit route for container & oil ships coming from Asia and the Middle East.
This pause in a global shipping route will no doubt have an impact on the paper industry as well. Indonesia, Malaysia, China and South Korea are all homes to large producers of high quality cardboard and kraftliners. In recent years, with significant investment, highly advanced mills have been established which supply cardboard to the US, UK and EU. Even if cardboard tubes manufacturers only use UK or EU produced paper, the impact to the industry is expected to be widespread. We've already seen warnings on Bloomberg about toilet roll shortages, which use lightweight cardboard cores.
When will we see an impact in the UK? Probably in around 2 to 3 weeks time, when the intended ships should have arrived at UK ports such as Felixstowe, London Gateway and Liverpool. These ports are already struggling with the increased volumes of traffic due to the coronavirus pandemic.
When choosing who to buy your cardboard tubes from, its essential to pick a supplier who is industry leading when it comes to planning for the "what if", as demonstrated by our COVID preparedness. The steps we took in 2020 meant could maintain our normal production volumes throughout the year, yet adapting to a pandemic world. It was essential we kept capacity high as many of our customers are in the food and pharmaceutical industry. Whether that be label cores, tape cores, or even industrial cores, all our customers are essential to JPT.
We hope that the Japanese owned, Taiwanese operated MV Ever Given is freed in hours and days, not weeks and that the normal flows of global trade return.
If your not currently a JPT customer, and your looking for carpet tubes, postal tubes or industrial cores, don't hesitate to contact us. Through our website, via email, on live chat or even through Whatsapp!
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