Shipment delays to Oceania are on the rise
Australia and New Zealand have been facing several delays in their shipments from China owing to the global port congestion and stretched supply chains which have been on the rise since 2020.
New Zealand, however, is facing particular challenges as carriers prioritise more profitable routes.
Shipment delays from China to Australia reduced by 15% in Q3 2022 compared to Q3 2021, while it increased by 93% compared to Q3 2020 and by 531% compared to Q3 2019.
Chinese exports to Japan showed a reduction in delay of 25% in Q3 2022 compared to Q3 2021.
Delays hitting New Zealand hard
New Zealand has been affected the most when comparing quarter-on-quarter data between 2019 and 2022.
project44 data shows that shipment delays from China to New Zealand increased by 144% in Q3 of 2022 compared to Q3 of 2021 and by 372% compared to Q3 2020, which was around the start of the impact of the pandemic.
Comparing pre-pandemic Q3 2019 to Q3 2022, shipment delays from China to New Zealand jumped a whopping 6764%.
Customers who order the same goods in both Australia and New Zealand are, in many cases receiving goods in New Zealand several weeks later than they are received in Australia.
“There is still a crisis in the supply chain, especially in New Zealand. Compared to Australia, many exporters and importers are still waiting weeks longer for shipments.” – Josh Brazil, VP Supply Chain Insights, project44
Exports from the US showed a significant reduction in delays to Australia, China, and Japan, aided by improved congestion in the US West Coast ports. Shipment delays dropped by 49%, 21%, and 67% in Q3 2022 compared to Q1 2022 in Australia, China, and Japan, respectively.
However, delays increased by 12% in New Zealand for the same period demonstrating how supply chain delays even from the US remain a critical bottleneck to the country’s economy.
One of the main reasons shipping to Australia was less affected by delays was that it has more ports for ships to call into in case of congestion. Comparatively, New Zealand has fewer ports where ships can reroute to if congestion exists.
However, supply chain experts in New Zealand attribute these delays largely to carriers’ shipping reliability since many lines view the country as less profitable.
There is also a widespread fear that the reduction in import containers coming into New Zealand could affect their export volumes.
Outlook
Supply chains in New Zealand may face even more serious challenges in the upcoming fourth quarter if lockdowns are enacted in China following any new COVID-19 resurgences and as the impacts of prolonged drought affect hydropower, halt shipping, and force major companies to suspend operations1.
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About project44
project44 is on a mission to make supply chains work. As the supply chain connective tissue, project44 operates the world’s most trusted end-to-end visibility platform that tracks more than 1 billion shipments annually for over 1,200 of the leading brands, including top companies in manufacturing, automotive, retail, life sciences, food & beverage, and oil, chemical & gas. Using project44, shippers and carriers across the globe drive greater predictability, resiliency, and sustainability.
The undisputed leader in the market, project44 was named the Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, #1 in FreightWaves FreightTech 2022, the Customer’s Choice in Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer report. project44 is headquartered in Chicago with a diverse team spanning 17 global offices.
