The Shipping World in 2024
A+A Price Sales & marketing is a major importer by volume of eco-friendly firestarters to North America. Our distributors and retailers are vital partners in delivering environmentally safer firestarters to backyards, beaches, fireplaces, and campfires all across North America. With the introduction of Container vessels and their subsequent adaptation to railroads and trucking in the 1950’s, the cost of transporting manufactured goods has plummeted, making these products cost-effective for North American consumers. But threats to this trade exist around every corner.
In these posts last summer (2023) we recounted the game of organized Labor roulette carried out on the docks of the Pacific Coast of North America. The eight-year labor contracts between the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) fronting the Ports in the U. S. were up in July 2022.
In Canada, the Association of Canadian Port Authorities (ACPA), negotiating on behalf of the ports vs. the International Longshore & Warehouse Union - Canada (ILWU-Canada). had an expiring contract on June 30, 2023

‍No Contract, No Way 

In America, there had arisen a more than casual concern about Labor unhappiness with the last contract. Negotiations were at a functional standstill at the beginning of 2023, but the longshoremen stayed on the job. Seeing no progress, the union began quietly sanctioning wildcat actions such as one-day no-shows and shift desertions on the docks at random Pacific coast ports. This put more than one industry and a few governments on notice as to what disruptions in service would look like. The Americans, after the prerequisite amount of blustering and appeals for third party mediation, were on the brink of a strike when they reached a deal for a new contract agreement.
Ahead of the deadline, The Canadian negotiations seemed to proceed without kerfuffle, until suddenly, on July 1, when the Canadian contract was up the Union voted to reject the last proposal from the Ports and went out on strike anyway. Within 2 weeks the particulars were ironed out and the dockworkers were back on the job with a 4 year contract . But the damage to the timetables and stability had been done. There was scant remaining comfort in the fact that it could have been substantially worse.
On the Atlantic and Gulf coasts the labor contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) led by feisty President Harold Daggett, and the ports, fronted by the  United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) (different players for different coasts) chaired by CEO David Adam, is culminating on September 30, 2024. Early indications point to somewhat contentious negotiations. In an address at a Union conference in July 2023, Mr Daggett was quoted as saying forcefully, “Members should prepare for the possibility of a coast-wide strike in October 2024,” The ILA negotiating strategy is clear, there’ll be no work without  a contract.

‍Making Money vs. Making War:

Labor strife and disruption aren’t the only threats to the international systems of shipping and free trade. Following Ukraine vs Russia, which has severely limited safe shipping in the Black Sea, the next maelstrom to bob-up is the current tumult between Palestine vs. Israel in the Middle East. The limitless outrage in that region exploded again on October 10, 2023, with the breach of Israeli security by Hamas Militiamen smashing a couple of Kibbutz’s while claiming to represent the Gaza Palestinians.
The politics of who owns what and who has the greater historical claims to the real estate along with the all-important, “who’s to blame” is a subject outside of the scope of this post. We are focused here on the impact of the war on the passage of cargo / container shipping from the Indian Ocean / Gulf of Aiden, emptying into the Red –Sea and eventually on through the Suez Canal to Mediterranean routes,

‍Hello Houthis:

‍Now enter the Houthi (Ansar Allah) rebels engaged in the ongoing, 8-year Yemeni Civil War. In support of Hamas and the Palestinians they have taken to launching all manners of unmanned ordnance from their bases in North Yemen at selected merchant shipping filtering through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aiden. Since around Dec. 1, to the present, roughly 60 vessels have been targeted with the tanker, the Rubymar suffering enough damage from a Houthi attack to be partially sunk, with the stern submersed and the bow resembling a dog keeping its head above water. These events have rerouted a majority of the container ships. The Traffic being rerouted away from the Bab-el-Mandeb consist primarily of container ships. When the attacks began, prices spiked dramatically, but then stabilized almost as quickly. The hot spots however are getting hotter. Expect a return to instability.
‍
The Call of the Wild.

Now Nature gets its turn to apply the screws – although Climate Change can arguably be labelled man-made – it comes in the form of a severe drought. In Panama, Lake Gatun is the large inland body of fresh water that crucially relays shipping through a system of locks from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back is drying up. An unusually potent El Niño has been preferred as the further explanation for a mere 7 inches of rain ungenerously delivered from the sky during the wet season of 2023. The average yearly precipitation is 43”.

 The Panama Canal:

The Canal is arguably on its way to obsolescence, but is a still critical bottleneck for international shipping, and was a valuable alternative route when shipping was disrupted by last year’s (2023) labor disagreements on the Pacific Coast of North America. The average wait time has ballooned to around 20 days. But the alternative of course is rounding South America through the Drake Passage and around Cape Horn, an expensive alternative. Another year with just 7” of rain will be a bomb going off. Plans to build alternative routes to adequately supplement traffic through the canal have been in the works for a while, but there is nothing close to becoming operational.

So much for the bad news.
Here at A+A Price Sales & marketing our imports come direct from our partners DutchFlame in The Netherlands, and Tiger Tim in Wales, UK. But due to the laws of supply and demand, any shocks such as the financial meltdown in ’08 and the pandemic can seriously disrupt the entire system. Despite the fact that only a portion of our exports need filter through the recognized hot spots, perturbations in the supply chain ripple through the entire network.
An important component of our business is securing the best prices on both shipping and insurance for our imports. As a matter of fact, now is a really great time to get locked in on delivering containers of eco-friendly Firestarters in time for grilling / campfire season at today’s prices. Call 519-503-1035, or e-mail at aapricesalesandmarketing@gmail.com.

‍