Supplies that are needed for Passover have not arrived in Israel, with less than a month to go before the week-long holiday.
According to a report by Israel’s Channel N12 News, the huge congestion of ships still waiting to be unloaded at Israeli ports has affected the economy, and the shipment of more supplies.
The cause of the traffic jam at the port is not clear, although Israeli ports rank low worldwide on efficiency and unloading times.
Due to the severe delays and congestion at the ports, some suppliers are now unwilling to ship goods to the Jewish State, and in the run-up to Passover, importers are warning the situation may worsen.
“Suppliers are having great difficulty finding shippers who are willing to deliver to Israel,” an Israeli importer told N12.
“Our suppliers from Turkey say it is inconceivable that travel from Turkey to Israel takes only 36 to 48 hours, but the ship then is forced to wait outside the ports for about a month.
“The price of maritime transport from China to Israel is. . .higher than the transport costs from China to Turkey or Italy,” the importer added.
One importer, Neo Brand company CEO Reut Vaknin, said that every day the goods are stuck on a ship in the port, the company pays from NIS 700 to thousands more for each container.”
This past Hanukkah, Neo Brand – the main importer of doughnuts to Israel – said it lost NIS 300,000 due to the chaos at Israeli ports.
Another senior manager in the import industry told the Hebrew-language news outlet that oil that should have arrived in Israel on March 1 is still not here – and is expected to arrive only at the end of this month.
“Beyond my loss, these are products the consumers need, and are not receiving. Everyone suffers,” the importer said.
Shortages are expected to be seen in frozen products, dairy products, food additives and meat, Vaknin warned.
Such losses are likely to result in more price hikes around the country, he said.
