Dock shutdown had up side, down side
By Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, January 26, 2003
San Francisco — Last fall's West Coast dock shutdown is just a memory, and that's just fine with many of the exhibitors at the San Francisco market. The work stoppage led to countless hassles and delays and cost importers money.
For domestic factories, however, the port closure offered a chance to make a little hay and, for a moment, reverse the rising tide of furniture imports.
"The (shutdown) actually helped us," said Randy Passanisi, president of Noble Furniture, a California case goods producer. "We have six-week lead times, and it's a problem for retailers if they can't get an import order for 12 to 16 weeks."
Andy Stein, president of Stein World, an importer, said the dock troubles cost the company millions in lost sales. Other companies reported similar circumstances. Stein said his line is well stocked now, but he lost about 40 days of sales when merchandise was held up. Expecting trouble at West Coast docks, he redirected ships to Savannah, Ga., but that didn't work.
"The boat was just sitting there in Savannah," Stein said. Too many shipments were diverted there, and the port couldn't handle the extra volume.
Steve Berglund, president of Surewood Oak, said the company received the last container tied up by the port shutdown just two weeks ago at its California distribution center. With a factory in Mexico as well as Asian sourcing, Berglund said, "We were able to respond with products out of Mexico, but where it hurt was with our direct-container customers. Our imports were down almost 40% in the fourth quarter."
Some importers tried to stock up in advance.
"We brought everything in at the beginning of the summer because we were 70% sure that the (dock shutdown) would happen," said Duncan Elcombe, vice president of marketing and sales at Zocalo. "When it did happen, that certainly helped us look good with our customers because we had bit the bullet with extra inventory."
| Acknowledgements | ||
| Staff Writer Jeff Linville contributed to this story. | ||
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