It seems like everything from soft plastics to fishing reels is out of stock these days. And when you can find products in stock, they are marked up more than usual. What is causing these problems and when can we find fishing gear at normal availability and prices?

I spoke to Robert Dufek, Regional Manager Shimano South East, at ICAST 2021 to understand what is causing the issues and when they will be resolved. According to Dufek, the 2021 hardware shortage is caused by the perfect storm of persistent COVID-19 restrictions, rising shipping costs and a huge surge in demand.

The pandemic and accompanying government restrictions are causing shipping delays in Asia, where most fishing gear is made. “Some of the Chinese ports are operating at 40%, 50% or 60% of their capacity,” Dufek said. “These ports are significantly larger than the Port of Los Angeles, which is the largest port in the United States. Thus, the containers arrive at the port, but cannot exit through the gate.

The cost of shipping these containers also increased significantly. “A normal 40-foot high cube container that Cost $ 4,000 to ship to California from China is now $ 14,000 to $ 18,000, ”Dufek said. To make matters worse, bidding wars for containers and space on ships are common.

It’s not that companies like Shimano don’t make products or sell them to retailers. It is because the products sell out in minutes and the demand exceeds the supply. “We are making a lot more products than ever in the history of Shimano,” said Dufek. Shimano has factories around the world, including Japan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the United States, all of which are operational. “We are setting record shipping numbers every month. It’s not that we don’t ship as many products as we did a year ago. We are shipping more product, a lot more product, ”said Dufek. According to a study carried out in 2021 by the Boating and Fishing Foundation, 55 million Americans fished last year and 4.4 million fished for the first time, an increase of 42%. The obvious solution to this increased participation is to speed up manufacturing, but expanding a manufacturing facility is no simple task.

“The other problem is that our manufacturing facilities are very large buildings. They are very complex and there are a lot of machines there, ”said Dufek. “In order to expand the capabilities of this particular facility, it doesn’t happen in three months. According to him, it would take about two years to expand their factories.

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So how long will these problems last? Unfortunately, this largely depends on factors beyond the control of the manufacturer. If COVID-19 restrictions imposed by various countries are relaxed, ports and factories can operate with a full workforce. The last Bloomberg Supply Chain Update shows that the flow of products from Asia to America is improving, but congestion in American ports is getting worse. The other factor is how long the increase in demand will continue. The RBFF study found that 55% of people who tried fishing in 2020 will continue the activity in 2021, which could keep demand for seafood high. In short, we don’t know what the rest of 2021 will hold in store for us, and the past year has taught us not to make predictions. One thing we do know is that manufacturers like Shimano will do their best to provide you with the equipment you need to get in the water.