Recently, news of two strikes in the logistics industry has caught everyone’s attention.
On June 13, the large-scale strike by South Korean truck drivers has continued for7 days , and the situation is getting worse, it is affecting the exports of multiple industrial chains, causing the overall container throughput of South Korea’s twelve major ports to drop significantly by 87%. In addition, according to the latest data released by the Korean Customs Administration, in the first 10 days of 6 months, South Korea’s exports The year-on-year shrinkage reached 12.7%.
According to the dpa news agency, the German Service Industry Federation announced that on 9 local time, several hours of strikes will be held at multiple seaports in Germany. This strike will greatly slow down all import and export activities in Germany, and congestion in front of the port will intensify. Exports from five German ports have been significantly affected.
Workers: It’s too much to keep going
Workers do have their reasons for striking.
Leave aside the seriousness and possible sequelae, let’s just talk about the mild symptoms. After the new coronavirus has mutated many times, its infection rate is higher than that of traditional influenza, it can be transmitted repeatedly, and its symptoms are relatively more severe. Even if it is mild, workers will be unable to work for a few days after the symptoms appear. On the one hand, The reason is that the infectious ability is too strong and there is a fear of infecting other people. On the other hand, the physical damage caused by mild illness does not support workers to continue working. Therefore, there is a certain gap in the logistics industry.
Positions such as ports and logistics are usually in short supply and are highly professional. Drivers of large trucks, which are common on the road, not only need a hard-working spirit, but also need special driving licenses and professional skills that require a long period of practice.
This is especially true for port operations. That kind of professional equipment cannot be operated without long-term training. Once there is a vacancy due to the new crown epidemic, it will be difficult to find someone to fill the shift. But once there is a shortage of people in a certain key link, the entire port may stop operating, and we can only cope with it. This is okay in the short term, but it is really unsustainable in the long term.
As prices rise, wages are hard to rise
Under the influence of the new crown epidemic, the economic situation has also worsened.
The high welfare measures in developed countries are indeed enviable, but the cost of maintaining such high welfare is also very high. The Greek government went bankrupt just to maintain high welfare. But most of those countries are based on vote-based politics. If the corresponding benefits are really reduced because of lack of money, the current government will not last long. There is no way, because there is no output due to the epidemic, so we can only rely on borrowing to make money.
Money has become more abundant, but global productivity has declined instead of increasing, ultimately leading to inflation. In April , the inflation rate in the United States8.3%. If the inflation rate is high, at the very least, it will make things more expensive for people to buy, which will lower their quality of life and affect their votes. At the most serious level, it will generally increase the operating costs of enterprises in society, making it difficult for a large number of enterprises to survive, and may trigger an economic crisis.
So the Federal Reserve wanted to curb the inflation rate by raising interest rates. As a result, the inflation data for May recently came out, and it became 8.6% span>, it is higher than 4 months, and the interest rate hike makes it lonely.
The higher the inflation, the more expensive the raw materials, especially crude oil, as the source of modern industry, the price has skyrocketed. But downstream demand is insufficient, and price increases cannot be transmitted at all. For weavers, last week’s polyester price increase was unbearable. There was no profit at all when placing orders, and they even lost money. They could only passively lower the operating rate of looms.
The same is true for shipping costs. 2020 has skyrocketed since the beginning of the year. This yearApril also saw a sharp increase during the epidemic. As a result, the epidemic After being controlled, it will no longer fall, it will only rise but not fall, and it will not work if it is not used. The pressure on enterprises is increasing.
The economic situation is not good, the overall performance of the company is average, and it is difficult to increase wages. However, in my personal experience, the workload is increasing, especially for important positions such as logistics ports. There is usually a shortage of people, and now there is even more shortage of people. .
Textile Enterprises: The house leaks and it rains all night long
For domestic textile companies, this is a situation where it rains all night long when the house leaks.
Textile companies not only have to bear the rising cost of raw materials caused by inflation, but the pressure on logistics is also growing. I believe that after experiencing the epidemic in March and April this year, cloth bosses have a new understanding of the importance of logistics. In modern business, logistics is not smooth. Not only can goods not be transported, but new orders are also afraid to be placed.
In the short term, strikes in the overseas logistics industry will mainly affect the freight and order acceptance of textile companies. If workers’ wages increase, freight rates may further increase, and fewer and fewer orders can be received.
In the long run, after the epidemic, overseas logistics workers have been under high workload for a long time. Coupled with the recent deterioration of the global economic situation, inflation is difficult to solve, and similar strikes may become more and more common in the future. Overseas It is also becoming increasingly difficult to receive orders.
But in the face of the increasingly bad global economic situation, all companies can do is try their best to survive.
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