chartered more than 150 flights from China to bring the stuffed toys to the U.S. and bypass port congestion. But those are expensive solutions that smaller businesses can’t always afford.
“We’d normally be relying on the U.S. distributor to pick up product from China and bring it to their warehouse. Then we’d place an order, they’d ship it to us, it would go to our warehouse and then out to customers,” Birnbaum said. “What we’re doing now is placing a larger order and bringing it to our warehouse directly.
Gunnigle said he saw where things were headed early on and was fortunate that his company already had a solid footprint in China before the supply chain started getting backed up. Because of the ongoing issues, that process can now take weeks as opposed to days, according to Levi Conlow, CEO of Lectric eBikes. When delays were at their worst in February and March, Conlow said that, from the moment inventory arrived at the port, it took five to six weeks to get to him.