Supply Chain Woes Prove a Boon for Cargo Salvage Companies

With supply chain problems persisting, unwanted and delayed goods have piled up — including things like rotten red cabbages, beer kegs and dog blankets, according to The Financial Times Saturday (Dec. 25).

The upside? The goods have helped out the cargo salvage industry.

Because of that, while those companies are not usually in the spotlight, they have been helping world trade keep going.

Jake Slinn, director of JS Global, a British cargo salvager, said per the report the company is “ridiculously busy with people going bust and canceling goods. These containers are costing a lot of money sitting on the ports.”

While it’s unknown how big the cargo salvage and excess inventory market is, the groups have been handling “thousands” of goods that need destroying or reselling, with more demand for those services.

In addition, they’ve become more vital for things like shipping groups, logistics and insurers. Goods have been getting stranded because of many factors, including supply bottlenecks and more time to transport freight — it now takes over 100 days between pickup from Asian exporters and the hand-offs at ports in Europe or the U.S. That’s an increase from under 60 days in 2019.

And there are further delays once the shipped goods reach land, due to shortages in lorry drivers and crammed warehouses.

Sinn added that there were more opportunities for his businesses, but there were problems buying discarded goods. He said the company was “taking punts on a lot of containers as we are unsure what the goods are inside.

“You never know what you’re going to get,” he said per the report.

PYMNTS wrote that the supply chain difficulties have made it a tough time for eCommerce, which has predicated its success on quickly delivering items. Now, with prices up and supplies down, consumers still want things fast and error-free.

Read more: Supply Chain Shortages Make Last-Mile Delivery a Household Obsession

According to Khaled Naim, CEO of Onfleet, a California-based last-mile delivery firm, consumers have not let up on wanting speedy deliveries.

He said while customers knew of the supply chain problems, there was still an intense demand to get things to people on time. New AI tech, digital invoicing and other developments could help out with that in the long run.