Dublin, Ireland: Irish food producers are being hit with extra charges to transport products in chilled containers, with shipping lines blaming the huge numbers of containers stuck in Chinese ports, says John Jordan, chief executive, Ornua, Ireland’s largest exporter of dairy products.
“If you wanted to move product from Ireland to the US, the likelihood was that the container you wanted was stuck in a port in China so there is now a premium surcharge put on by shipping companies,” he told the Irish Independent.
The co-operative has two main divisions selling product directly to supermarkets and a second selling ingredients to other manufacturers and food service companies. Trade to supermarkets has increased significantly. However, the collapse of the food service sector “is unlike anything before”, Jordan said.
Ornua’s operating profit rose 21.5% to €49m on turnover up 11.5% to €2.3bn in 2019.
