by Christoph Steitz and Matthias Inverardi
FRANKFURT/DUSSELDORF (Reuters) – German logistics giant DHL has asked its customers to carefully monitor their inventory management due to disruptions in the Red Sea, although industry professionals do not expect any bottlenecks. strangulation.
“We generally advise our customers to carefully review their inventory management strategy and, if necessary, adapt it,” DHL said in emailed comments, adding that it was able to offer solutions alternatives to its customers, such as air freight or rail transport.
DHL does not operate ships, but uses them to transport containers.
The situation has become tense since carriers such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd decided to divert their ships from the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on cargo ships.
Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk saw their stock prices soar following these route changes, due to significantly higher freight rates charged to their customers.
“We believe carriers will benefit the most, as the Red Sea closure occurred just before the Chinese New Year peak period and in the middle of the contract renewal season,” said the Stifel analysts in a note.
“At least the situation has allowed carriers to put pressure on exporters for higher contract rates.”
On Monday, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk said they had not reached agreements with the Iran-backed Houthis to prevent their ships from being attacked in the Red Sea in the future, denying the information from a commercial site.
Hapag-Lloyd said it would reroute its ships until at least January 9.
The German retailers’ association HDE, however, does not foresee any visible bottlenecks in the short or medium term, emphasizing that more resilient supply chains have been put in place in recent years.
“That’s why you shouldn’t expect empty shelves or price increases.”
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Matthias Inverardi, Rene Wagner and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; French version Kate Entringer, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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