Textile, Clothing, and Footwear (TCF) Council of Fiji member companies will not have any issues caused by the Red Sea shipping crisis Intimate Apparels director and TCF Council of Fiji president Inbamalar Wanarajan said this as disruptions continue toward global shipping and trade as a result of militant attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea.
Government and business leaders said they are prepared.
For months, Houthi rebels in Yemen have been responsible for targeted attacks on commercial shipping vessels passing through the Red Sea.
In response, US and British forces have launched air strikes against the Houthi group.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica said this week that the Ministry was monitoring the impact of the disrup tions on costs and had not received concerns from major local importers.
“These are issues we have to observe, and one of the challenges for Fiji is we import more than we export,” he said.
“We will always be dependent on those kinds of issues.
“There are certain ways to address it, but we’ll keep on observing to see how it impacts pricing and supply availability.”
Meanwhile, local businessman Mike Towler said his company, Performance Flotation Development, would not be disrupted by the ongoing turmoil in the Red Sea.
Mr Towler is also a member of the TCF Council of Fiji.
“A vast majority of our raw material comes from north and east Asia and it will not be disrupted by the Red Sea conflict,” he said.
“I do bring some inflatable lifejacket components from Europe and no doubt this issue will have some impact on us if the conflict continues, but I do not think that it will disrupt our supply line that much.
“I will need to order the components a little earlier than I normally would.
“Now, if Xi Jinping decides that he wants to take Taiwan by force then that would be a whole different story for me.”
Freight forwarding company, UB Freight (Fiji) national sales manager Shaheer Yusuff said the industry was facing significant shipping delays, particularly in the Red Sea route.
“30 days was the usual lead time for shipments that were coming through that channel.
Now everything’s stopped and whatever is moving is slow,” he said.
“There’s now a large backlog that needs to be cleared, which means that the supply of some products will run out.
“Other challenges that we face at the moment include price hikes.
“Freight rates are quite high post-COVID and they have not gone back to pre-COVID levels.”
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