Like the whole world, we closely followed the run-down of a container ship in the Suez Canal at the end of March and the rescue efforts that lasted for a week. This event caused the container crisis, which was rapidly increasing with the pandemic, to worsen. The container crisis, which has negatively affected the global supply chain, is expected to continue for the next 6 months unless there is an increase in capacity. We talked to Cömert Varlık, General Manager of OMSAN Logistics, one of the OYAK companies, about the container problem and the problems experienced in the logistics sector.

According to the information provided by Varlık, especially the use of intermodal transportation mode gains importance once again with the container problem. Therefore, due to the global container crisis, it is important to evaluate alternative transportation modes and to create alternative solutions in seaway. One of them is the use of multiple transport modes.

Stating that OMSAN Logistics quickly switched to intermodal transportation mode, Varlık said, “With our nearly 45 years of experience, we have used the advantage of being able to provide integrated services in all transportation modes such as sea, road, railway and airway in crises experienced in different fields. Due to the negativity experienced due to the container problem in maritime transport, we re-evaluated the road and intermodal transport capacity. We shifted loads to different modes of transport, keeping operational efficiency more in mind. We have planned operations for cargoes suitable for highway and intermodal lines by evaluating all alternatives that can be used in transportation routes for our customers.”

According to the information given by Varlık, OMSAN also continues to work closely with container ship owners to overcome the container crisis. Apart from this, while carrying out container operations, it operates the options of renting second-hand containers or organizing shipments for suitable routes through special platform equipment such as Ro-Ro ships and mafi.

CONTAINER TRANSPORTATION PRICES HAVE INCREASED 5 TIMES

On the other hand, container transportation prices increased 5 times due to the pandemic and the crisis. According to the Drewry World Container Index, container shipping prices have increased from a thousand dollars to 5 thousand dollars.

Varlık states that they have taken the measures they have taken against price increases. Varlık explains these efforts as follows: “As OMSAN Logistics, we have taken precautions against increasing prices by creating the loading plans of our export and import customers together, evaluating container alternatives in different capacities, planning equipment and ship reservations long in advance. We evaluated different ship positioning conditions in the operations we carried out with our own and chartered ships in bulk cargo transportation. We started to manage this challenging period by working with longer-term charter models in order not to delay the transportation, reduce the risk, and intervene in the problems that may occur more easily. With these operations, we were able to carry over 5 million tons of cargo per year, which we did in the past years.”

Turkey’s most powerful weapon in the economy is exports. For this, logistics will continue to play the most important role. The new transport models created will also be of great importance here.