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2020 through 2022 were unprecedented times in the global shipping industry. From sharp declines in exports due to closures from COVID-19, to the rapid increase of countries opening as COVID-19 subsided. For producers, coffee importers and roasters alike, it has been an interesting few years, to say the least! Keep reading below for the Royal NY coffee importers approach to shipping challenges and our 2023 coffee origin arrival guide.
While we aren’t “out of the woods” yet or back to pre-pandemic shipping costs and voyage times, we have started to see some progress. We are seeing better rates than last year on average. We have also been seeing quicker turnaround from port to port globally, at least to the East Coast, where we typically will bring in most of our coffee to.
In our last shipping update, we discussed that we halted direct shipments to our partner warehouses in Jacksonville and Wisconsin. You can check out that article from June 2022 here! Since shipping rates have subsided, we are currently exploring those shipping options for this year. When we have the ability to receive our coffee in ports throughout the eastern seaboard, we can be nimbler. This, in turn, helps with both the landed cost of coffee and the timing of arrivals.
Unfortunately, there are still concerns with the bottleneck at ports of Charleston. Because of this, we aren’t going to be allocating all coffee directly there. This will ensure that we don’t get into a position where we get stuck at higher costs because containers can’t be pulled from port on time, or the container must be re-routed.
Our inbound team is hard at work maintaining relationships with steamship companies who can offer the best service at the best price. That may not always mean the cheapest option, but getting the coffee into a U.S port at a reasonable price compared to years past is a goal that we strive for every time. In the end, we all want our coffee to be delivered at the freshest stage and some services can manage that better than others.
Increased demand for all things is still part of everyday life. China’s recent opening of their borders for more international travel and trade will likely increase the stress of the shipping industry. However, that has yet to be seen. We are continuing to monitor all aspects and how this affects cost and timing for arriving coffees and will share updates as we have them.
In the meantime, reference our upcoming arrival guide below. We hope you are as pleased as we are to see some fresh crop coffees arriving soon! Origins that we have noticed better logistics include Indonesia, East Africa, and Ethiopia.
First new crop arrivals from Central America are coming in around mid-March through April
Arriving April (which is 1 – 1.5 months ahead of last year’s schedule)
Coffees have either arrived (Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda) or will be arriving through April (Uganda)
Main crop auctions are taking place and containers are shipping on time. We used to see 2-3 months turn around, we are now seeing 1-2 months from shipment to arrival in our warehouse. Stay tuned for new arrivals from Kenya: March – June.
Delays of years prior (90 days) have shrunk to 50-60 days for transit, great news for everyone!
Stay tuned for fresh arrivals and updates to our origin arrival guide. Reach out to your trader or contact us here to talk about what is coming in. We can also help to guide you on when you should reserve your coffees of choice!
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