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Dapol Delay notice


birdseyecircus
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I suspect that some people at Dapol will be thinking that it never rains but it pours, what with ships getting stuck now this. I wonder if it will prompt consideration about shifting manufacturing elsewhere. 

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1 hour ago, Kris said:

I suspect that some people at Dapol will be thinking that it never rains but it pours, what with ships getting stuck now this. I wonder if it will prompt consideration about shifting manufacturing elsewhere. 

Not much point moving production, if all factories are on a 3 day week.. the time to move everything and set up would be longer than the 2 days lost… and of course those factories presumably would also be on a three day week…not to mention I doubt they are idle with nothing to do either.

 

Imho slowing production in China is a good thing.. it gives chance for shipping companies to clear their backlogs and removes the container shipping price hikes we have seen in the last year.. so a deflationary consideration for us modellers.

 

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17 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

"As reported in the media recently"

 

First I have heard of it and yet another frustrating excuse.....

It's real, not just an excuse. I've seeing it reported from several sources over the past 2 -3 days. 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58733193

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/29/china-hit-by-power-cuts-and-factory-closures-as-energy-crisis-bites

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/28/economy/china-power-shortage-gdp-supply-chain-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/9/29/china-power-cuts-uk-petrol-woes-why-is-there-an-energy-crunch

 

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1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

Not much point moving production, if all factories are on a 3 day week.. the time to move everything and set up would be longer than the 2 days lost… and of course those factories presumably would also be on a three day week…not to mention I doubt they are idle with nothing to do either.

 

Imho slowing production in China is a good thing.. it gives chance for shipping companies to clear their backlogs and removes the container shipping price hikes we have seen in the last year.. so a deflationary consideration for us modellers.

 

In the short term maybe not but for future products is China a reliable manufacturing partner could other places be more reliable / cost effective? The electronics world is already exploring other options so why should other manufactures not do the same?

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Just now, Kris said:

In the short term maybe not but for future products is China a reliable manufacturing partner could other places be more reliable / cost effective? The electronics world is already exploring other options so why should other manufactures not do the same?

I feel the subject has been under review by the trade - ours and other higher-tech activities - for many years. Various places have been touted as the next-China, but very little production has actually been announced as having moved anywhere. Of course this latest inhibition on output will induce a further search, but I'm not holding my breath for early change. It takes years to train a workforce in order to even see if they have the dexterity to assemble as well as the Chinese patently do.

 

It has also come at a particularly unfortunate time, when the manufacturing world is screaming for chips and other high-tech assemblies that have become scarce since component factory fires in Japan and elsewhere. China could have scooped a new pool, but that's tough to do on a 3-day week. 

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19 minutes ago, Kris said:

In the short term maybe not but for future products is China a reliable manufacturing partner could other places be more reliable / cost effective? The electronics world is already exploring other options so why should other manufactures not do the same?

The trouble is, unlike electronics:-

+ Production volumes are tiny 

+ There's an awful lot of hand assembly in toy trains, lots of training involved 

+ You need to move the whole supply chain, I get the impression there's several "cottage industry" suppliers involved.

 

There's already a good deal of electronics manufacturing capacity outside China currently, from the likes of Jabil and Sanmina for example. Penang is a popular spot where the infrastructure has grown round electronics manufacturing.

 

 

 

Edited by spamcan61
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1 hour ago, John M Upton said:

"As reported in the media recently"

 

First I have heard of it and yet another frustrating excuse.....

 

It's been impacting several producers for a while according to some sources. Excuses are different from reasons.

 

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news like this might cause panic buying of model railways.

 

No power for factories to make them

No containers to ship them

No space on the ship to bring them

No hgv driver to get them to the producers

No fuel to bring them to our homes.

No Electric providers left to run them

 

I might need a drink after reading that, but theres No CO2 to make beer.

 

At this rate I might be forced to do some modelling.

 

Are the long queues forming outside model shops this morning and are they imposing purchasing limits?

 

Edited by adb968008
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You missed out - no space for container ships to dock and unload their containers. I don't know whether this is the case but two weeks ago there were four loaded container ships just off the coast in South Devon just sitting there and not moving.  Something I have never seen before and it set me wondering.

 

Whilst I'm not happy about not having shiny new models to play with I feel for Dapol. They will have a business plan which expected revenue from these delayed items to be coming into them from us customers. Not having the planned  income  is a very real and difficult thing for a business to cope with. They still have all their overheads to cover despite the delayed revenue, you can't tell workers you will pay them when the next shipment comes in. Also you can't invest in new product if you haven't got income from current product. You can be sure that these delays are the last thing Dapol needed but I am sure they will get through it all.

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1 hour ago, Chris M said:

You missed out - no space for container ships to dock and unload their containers. I don't know whether this is the case but two weeks ago there were four loaded container ships just off the coast in South Devon just sitting there and not moving.  Something I have never seen before and it set me wondering.

Likely waiting for space at their destination ports rather than anything else. 

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6 hours ago, Kris said:

Likely waiting for space at their destination ports rather than anything else. 

Felixstowe cannot cope at the moment with unloading, so vessels are having to wait for a berth which can be up to 2 days after their initial ETA, it’s a nightmare currently and I have no idea how our contact at MSC is keeping her sanity :scratchhead:

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10 hours ago, adb968008 said:

news like this might cause panic buying of model railways.

 

No power for factories to make them

No containers to ship them

No space on the ship to bring them

No hgv driver to get them to the producers

No fuel to bring them to our homes.

No Electric providers left to run them

 

I might need a drink after reading that, but theres No CO2 to make beer.

 

At this rate I might be forced to do some modelling.

 

Are the long queues forming outside model shops this morning and are they imposing purchasing limits?

 

Given your boot-load the other day, I hate to think what panic buying would look like for you!

 

Roy

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12 hours ago, adb968008 said:

news like this might cause panic buying of model railways.

 

No power for factories to make them

No containers to ship them

No space on the ship to bring them

No hgv driver to get them to the producers

No fuel to bring them to our homes.

No Electric providers left to run them

 

I might need a drink after reading that, but theres No CO2 to make beer.

 

At this rate I might be forced to do some modelling.

 

Are the long queues forming outside model shops this morning and are they imposing purchasing limits?

 

No beer, now that is serious lol !

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On 02/10/2021 at 10:26, Kris said:

Likely waiting for space at their destination ports rather than anything else. 

We have a limited edition coming from Dapol, and they kindly let me know which vessel the container was on, and hoped the container would dock at the beginning of September. It has been agony tracking the ship as it has spent days anchored outside various European ports awaiting an unloading berth - the 'crowd' of vessels off Rotterdam/Antwerp was particularly impressive.

 

The ship finally docked in Southampton this weekend, some 4 weeks later than anticipated. Now all we need is the gods to smile on us to have the drivers to ship it to Carlisle, via Chirk, and to have access to diesel to move their lorries.... What could possibly go wrong?

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5 hours ago, Mike at C&M said:

We have a limited edition coming from Dapol, and they kindly let me know which vessel the container was on, and hoped the container would dock at the beginning of September. It has been agony tracking the ship as it has spent days anchored outside various European ports awaiting an unloading berth - the 'crowd' of vessels off Rotterdam/Antwerp was particularly impressive.

 

The ship finally docked in Southampton this weekend, some 4 weeks later than anticipated. Now all we need is the gods to smile on us to have the drivers to ship it to Carlisle, via Chirk, and to have access to diesel to move their lorries.... What could possibly go wrong?

Is that some coaches of a Scottish flavour?

 

You have to also think of the crews on these ships stuck outside harbour waiting to gain entry

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6 hours ago, woodenhead said:

You have to also think of the crews on these ships stuck outside harbour waiting to gain entry

Not sure about that. I'm in Southampton and think they might be better off where they are!

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On 01/10/2021 at 18:10, John M Upton said:

"As reported in the media recently"

 

First I have heard of it and yet another frustrating excuse.....

At the moment - there are approximately 175 container ships anchored off Chinese ports waiting to berth and load.

Frustrating excuse? I don’t think so!!

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BBC report from a couple of weeks ago shows 65 ships waiting to berth at Los Angeles and Long Beach and so it's a world-wide problem - a bit like the petrol situation in UK - plenty of fuel but it's in the wrong place - plenty of ships/containers but they are in the wrong place.

 

Click Here for BBC News

.

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