The sweet potato market is currently facing significant disruption due to delays. "Basically, we are used to delays, but we get the impression that the terminal in Rotterdam, where most of our containers arrive, is overloaded," says Joran Vleugel of Rola Fresh.
© Rola Fresh B.V.
As a result, ships are sometimes forced to wait for days at anchor off the Dutch coast. "In other cases, vessels coming from Egypt divert via the UK, first calling at Bremerhaven or Hamburg before returning to Rotterdam, which adds an extra week," Joran explains. "Because sweet potatoes have a relatively good shelf life, we can anticipate this by holding sufficient stock at our logistics service provider Cool Control in Maasdijk. This ensures that there is always enough product available to serve our customers, who therefore notice little or nothing of the delays we are dealing with."
Cargo ships at sea for a week until coast was safe
"If ships sail directly from Egypt to Rotterdam, the journey normally takes 11 to 12 days. We understand that a severe storm raged in the Atlantic last week. As a result, many cargo vessels were unable to enter the ocean and were forced to wait at sea for more than a week until the coast was safe again. This means we are expecting sweet potatoes on six different vessels from Egypt and the U.S. early next week, compared with the usual two or three," the importer says.
"It is easy to assume that this will flood the market with sweet potatoes, but we do not expect the impact to be that severe. Over the past few weeks, there has been little to no availability, which means that stocks everywhere have fallen to an absolute minimum. As a result, the market should be able to absorb the new arrivals without difficulty," Joran expects.
Line service
"In addition, we should not forget that most vessels transporting our sweet potatoes to Rotterdam operate on something like a scheduled service. They usually sail the same routes and call at the same ports. If they are delayed by a week at any point, this also means it will take them a week longer to return to Egypt to start the same rotation again. This is why we expect the effects of this disruption, unfortunately, to be felt for several weeks."
Beyond this, volumes from Egypt are set to decline further in the coming period. Most Egyptian exporters have already stopped supplying sweet potatoes, meaning the market will not be flooded as it sometimes is during the October to December period. "Fortunately, due to a strategic decision, we do have availability of both Egyptian and U.S. sweet potatoes in the coming months."
For more information:
Joran Vleugel
Rola Fresh
Tel: +31 174 725520
[email protected]
www.rolafresh.nl
