Container shipping out of synch, congested ports, Chinese production shortfalls, chips in short supply: companies all over the world are facing difficulties in sourcing the electronic components they need for their products. maresystems is no exception. When world-leading carmakers like VW can’t get enough chips to build cars with all the electronic nice-to-haves customers want, it’s hardly surprising that maresystems is also confronted with supply chain problems.

A US shopping boom brought a surge in demand for goods from Asia’s manufacturing powerhouses. Container shipping lines responded by switching resources to Asia-US West Coast routes. One outcome has been massive container logjams in Los Angeles and Long Beach, Savannah and Felixstowe, to name just four ports. A shortage of truckers and rail chassis in the USA and lorry drivers in the UK has been a key cause of port congestion. On the supply side, China’s strict response to minor corona outbreaks shut the key ports of Shanghai and Ningbo on several occasions and the ongoing Chinese power crisis is now curtailing output in the industrial powerhouses of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces. All in all, it’s what people call the “the perfect storm” – if that isn’t a too harmless-sounding description of the far-from-perfect problems caused by global supply chain disruptions.