Shipping Ikea

Giant retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Home Depot have been chartering their own containerships for a little while now. The Swedish furniture giant Ikea has followed their footsteps in taking some of their ocean supply chain needs into their own hands.

Container shipping has been affected by many delays and disruptions since the beginning of the pandemic, elevating the freight rates.

“Congestion in ports combined with historically high demand has created an imbalance in the entire world market for maritime transport,” said Ikea product delivery director Mikael Redin.

IKEA’s supply chain has been impacted remarkably by the ongoing delays, disruptions, and global shortage. They’ve been experiencing products missing in the department stores, shortage of certain raw materials, congestion in ports combined with a historically large demand. This has created some “out of stock” signs in their department stores.

We must take further measures to mitigate the effects of the disruptions in our maritime transport,”.

On top of that, Ikea had 100 containers on the Ever Given when it grounded on the Suez Canal, making headlines worldwide.

Now the Swedish retailer has decided to handle the matters with their own hands. To control some of their own maritime supply chain and ensure the availability of their own products, they bought their own containers and rented extra vessels.

Mikael Redin assured the purchase of containers and the chartering of vessels, has improved the situation a little. He also mentions: “But despite this, we must take further measures to mitigate the effects of the disruptions in our maritime transport,”.