'These systems are very fragile': Global supply chain disruption has local impact in lead-up to busy shopping season
With one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year approaching, filling shelves and orders these days may come with extra challenges for many businesses due to ongoing issues with global supply chains.
The pandemic has disrupted the worldwide movement of all kinds of products, and it’s not clear when those problems could be resolved.
Granville Island Toy Company owner Joanna Mileos said there are definite issues with supply at the moment.
“Whether it be containers, or whether it be factory shutdowns during COVID and they just haven’t had enough time to produce decent quantities,” she said. “It’s definitely been having a trickle-down effect, not just in toys, in everything, and I think we’re already seeing price increases right across the board.”
She said the cost of shipping containers has also gone up, at a time when there’s a shortage, and some suppliers are working on managing expectations.
“We’re already seeing suppliers who are telling us we’re not accepting any orders for the rest of this year,” she said. “There (are) suppliers who are sending out their availability lists on a regular basis to say, hey, this is what we have in stock, and we may or may not get any more products.”
University of Victoria associate professor Adel Guitouni says at the same time as the shipping slowdown, consumer demand has also surged.
“People are buying more stuff online and so on, because that money that was usually used for travel or other kinds of expenses, we are doing renovation, we are doing other things,” he said. “These systems are very fragile right now, and what we see today is just the symptoms of the fragility of the system.”
He said the strain on global supply chains pre-dates COVID-19, as companies outsourced for cheaper production, and the pandemic has only exposed weaknesses in the system.
“As we have been developing these chains, we did not invest at all in resiliency,” he said. “They have been built mainly for the sunny days.”
He said this situation could provide an opportunity for local and domestic industries to compete, and for consumers to think more locally.
“When you have a strained kind of system, if you start pulling, either someone has to give or it’s going to break,” he said, and added current supply chains also create pollution that contribute to climate change. “This is an opportunity for us to rethink all of this.”
Mileos said growing support for local businesses has been one positive during the pandemic.
Her advice for holiday shoppers this season is not to wait too long.
“The earlier the better this year, for sure,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.