The failure of the Suez Canal would disrupt business supplies for months

Landress (CNN Business) – 400 meter long container ship The Suez Canal was released almost a week ago, Opening the way for hundreds of waiting vessels to go to the main commercial artery.

This does not mean that the crisis is over for companies that rely on timely delivery of raw materials, parts and products. Even before Ever Given ran, supply chains were stretched to the limit, making it very expensive to carry goods around the world and causing a shortage of everything from standard bikes to cheese.

There are now 367 vessels, including 35 oil tankers and 96 container vessels waiting to use the canal. When traffic starts to move again, it will take days to fix the backlink, further delaying products on the way to customers.

IKEA told CNN Business last week that the lock could “create restrictions on our supply chain” depending on how long it takes to release Ever Given.

“We can confirm that the ships have containers with IKEA products, which are waiting to go through the Suez Canal and reopen their locations,” a company spokesman told CNN Business.

“We will consider all available delivery options to ensure the availability of our products,” the spokesperson said.

Three ships are stranded in the canal at Mersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, and 29 are waiting to go inside. More are expected this Monday.

The company has already sailed 15 ships around the Cape of Good Hope in the southern tip of Africa, adding days and costs to their voyages.

Mersk said it could take six or more days to clear the backwaters of ships in the canal after the release of Evergreen, depending on safety and other factors. The knock-on effects for business will last a long time.

Even when the canal reopens [este lunes], The ripple effects on global equipment and capacity are significant and the locking has already caused many additional disruptions and delays to global shipping, which can take weeks or months to unravel, ”the company said.