can t get alongside the harbours. they ll have to move the cargo overland to other port locations, potentially hundreds of kilometres or even 1,000 kilometres away. that is going to have a big impact on that supply chain in terms of additional cost, but also in terms of extra transit time as well. but in terms of the container business in russia, first of all, we don t do business with russia anymore because of the sanctions, but the business that we are moving in and out of ukraine, of course, we can t bring our container ships now up through the black sea and to the ukrainian ports anymore. we re having to move that to other ports in the region and then that cargo is then getting de vanned out of containers, and then it s having to move by other land transport systems. and that is all adding additional cost and and transit time to those products. so, in some cases, probably adding two or three times the cost of conventionally moving it with a point to point or port to port container
time to those products. so in some cases, probably adding two or three times the cost of conventionally moving it with a point to point or port to port container shipping operation. and jeremy, let me end on this. you and i have spoken before over the past few years about the whole supply chain chaos and how that sent the transportation costs through the roof. but eventually they came down. and now some in your industry say the prices have come down so much, it s just not sustainable. is that your view? well, i think certainly there s two factors there. one is that there s no doubt that the supply and demand squeeze was very tight during 2021 to 2022, and we saw freight rates much higher than the normal industry average. we ve had a rebalancing in 2023 due to an inventory overhang, so the sales to inventory ratios have been quite high. our customers are gradually burning through those inventories and we ll start their reordering cycles quite soon. and when that happens, some of the spo
getting de vanned out of containers, and then it s having to move by other land transport systems and that is all adding additional cost and and transit time to those products. so in some cases, probably adding two or three times the cost of conventionally moving it with a point to point or port to port container shipping operation. and jeremy, let me end on this. you and i have spoken before over the past few years about the whole supply chain chaos and how that sent the transportation costs through the roof. but eventually they came down. and now some in your industry say the prices have come down so much, it s just not sustainable. is that your view? well, i think certainly there s two factors there. one is that there s no doubt that the supply and demand squeeze was very tight during 2021 to 2022, and we saw freight rates much higher than the normal industry average.