Heavy rains and floods have caused a worsening shipping crisis, which may threaten Black Friday transportation!

International shipping is facing numerous difficulties, containers are hard to come by, shipping is congested, and this, coupled with natural disasters such as heavy rains and floods that have occurred in many parts of the world this year, has seriously threatened the upcoming shopping season.

Since July, sudden rainstorms in parts of Europe and China's Henan Province have had a serious impact on the local areas. Such extreme weather, coupled with the existing shipping crisis, has made international shipping face unprecedented challenges.

Western Europe is an important shipping and transportation hub in the world, and China's Henan Province is home to several large companies. Heavy rains and floods have caused serious damage to the local railway and road transportation systems.

The floods not only disrupted important transportation, but also severely affected local industrial areas , with production facilities, machinery and warehouses suffering devastating blows.

The floods have seriously threatened the supply of copper, a raw material widely used in production and life, from electronic products to electric vehicles. Vivek Dhar, a commodity analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, pointed out that Henan Province, which was hit by floods in China, is a major copper production center.

Copper prices have risen strongly since the floods receded, as central China urgently needs to rebuild damaged infrastructure after the floods, and the power sector needs sufficient copper wires as basic support.

In Europe, Aurubis GmbH, a supplier of high-precision copper wire for the electronics and electrical equipment sector, also announced that its factories had experienced extensive flooding and were also facing great threats.

There is also a serious shortage of semiconductor materials in the automotive manufacturing industry due to the floods. Automakers and suppliers in many parts of Europe have been severely impacted. Manufacturing plants in Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium are expected to be the first to be hit by the floods.

The floods are extremely destructive, and the parts needed for the production of industries including automobiles, machinery and equipment, and electronic products have been greatly damaged. Shortages of raw materials and distribution problems have become important threats to the shopping season.

As August approaches , the back-to-school shopping season is about to begin around the world, and various electronic products, clothing, shoes and hats, dormitory furniture and other products will become the mainstream of this shopping season. However, flood damage may seriously threaten the back-to-school shopping season and even Black Friday.

Even if there are deals during the online shopping season, they are likely to be fewer and discounts may be smaller, said Pawan Joshi, executive vice president of supply chain software company E2open. Prices of items such as consumer electronics, clothing, furniture and appliances are also likely to rise, he said.

Difficulties in shipping

Threatening Black Friday