Since the holiday season shipping delays and release date changes have been worse than ever. Many companies warned they were operating far beyond capacity and wouldn’t be able to keep up. We saw the effects of that shortly after in the new year when release date after release date got changed in North America all while EU and Asia operated on original timelines. The most recent example of this is the AMM release, which was on track to drop in March and then all of a sudden was delayed until April 21st (see earlier #announcements post).
*Why is this happening?*
Port congestion is currently the issue and on top of that there is a truck driver shortage in the US. Millions of dollars worth of product is stuck on shipping containers that they can’t get out to distribute properly. Famous Footwear says they are currently facing between $60 million and $70 million of delayed inventory. Nike says their total sales are up for the company as a whole but down 10% in North America. They say they are being hurt by shipment delays that have been dragging on for more than three weeks. Nike Sales are up 51% in China and I believe this is why we are seeing less and less stock in North America as they sell more overseas instead. They just cant get product to us and I expect restocks to take place later this year with inventory that is stuck.
*What comes next?*
It’s not going to get any better. The ship that has ran aground in the Suez Canal has blocked global shipping traffic through a key global route. All those containers Nike can’t get out of the port in time are now stuck. The NY Times reports the the traffic jam has held up nearly $10 billion in trade each day since Tuesday. Nike and other brands will 100% be effected by this. The question now is when will we see that happen. I would say all of April’s release date are in jeopardy of not happening on time.
*TLDR;*
Release dates are being delayed because of shipping containers stuck at ports and a lack of truck drivers in the US. Stock is low in North America because Nike can’t get product into the country. Everything is behind at least 3 weeks and it’s only going to get worse because of the Suez Canal ship running aground. Prepare for a bumpy few weeks or months.