Major shipping disruptions have delayed the arrival of back-to-school supplies at Abed’s, with Managing Director Eddy Abed cautioning that the same challenges could also affect Christmas stock later this year.
The issue was raised on Friday after Faith Harris-Marshall presented a cheque at Abed’s Swan Street, Bridgetown store, to assist families with purchasing school supplies.
Although apologising to customers for the delays, Abed stressed that enough stock is available to meet shoppers’ immediate needs.
Managing director of Abed’s Eddy Abed. (Photo credit: Lauryn Escamilla / Barbados TODAY)
“We thought we were ready for the rush that we anticipated. Unfortunately, we are late this year with some very necessary school materials,” he remarked. “The good news is that it is at our warehouse as we speak…. We have enough that will take care of the needs of everybody.”
He explained that the delays stem from international shipping disruptions linked to the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, which has left cargo vessels unavailable for their usual Caribbean routes.
“There are so many cargo ships tied up in there that those that would ordinarily come from the Orient to service America, Canada, South America, and the Caribbean are not available,” he said. “Less ships means the frequency has changed, and we got caught in that.”
Abed acknowledged that the retailer was now close to six weeks behind schedule in receiving some back-to-school materials but said additional staff had been deployed to speed up service once the supplies reach stores.
“We hope to have it in all of our stores from tomorrow, Saturday, and we will be here every day of the week, including Sundays at Welches, to try to accommodate for the late delivery of our fabric.
“We will do our part now that we get the fabric into the stores by tomorrow… we’re bringing on extra people to accommodate,” he said. “I’d like my customers to know I deeply apologise for the late arrival, and we’re trying to mitigate it by just doing whatever is necessary at this time.”
He also revealed that the current challenges could extend beyond the back-to-school season.
“I think we’re going to have more of the same going into Christmas,” he noted. “Historically we need to ship everything by the end of September to get it here for October, November. This year we’ve brought forward that schedule… but fingers crossed that we’ll do what we need to do to have it in time.”
Abed further disclosed that freight costs have more than doubled over the past year, placing additional pressure on retailers.
“Shipping a container out of the Orient is now $12 000. Last year at this same time, it was $5 000,” he said. “We have taken the decision this year at Abed’s not to raise any of our prices… I just don’t know if we are going to be able to do the same for Christmas going forward.”
(LG)
