Container Crisis Gets So Bad Coca-Cola Switches to Bulk Freight
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The cost of shipping stuff in containers has gotten so out of hand that Coca-Cola Co. is switching its cargoes to vessels that are normally only used by industrial commodity traders to help keep its business running.
In normal times, the company transports materials around the world in the same 20 foot steel boxes that haul everything from toys to bicycles. With those markets booming and capacity constrained, it has instead chosen to use three so-called bulk carriers -- normally used by commodity traders to haul products like coal and iron ore --to transport 60,000 tons of cargo, Alan Smith, the company’s procurement director, said on a LinkedIn post.