The persistent Shipping delays have now begun to have an adverse effect on one of the world’s biggest fast-food company, McDonald’s.
The fast-food major, in Japan, is facing a shortage of its famous fries due to the global supply chain crisis. The firm expresses that it has been facing a delay in the shipment of potatoes used to make the French fries. And, as a result of which, the firm is unable to deliver satisfaction and meet consumers’ demand to its full threshold.
However, McDonald’s assured in mid-December that consumers can avail small portions of fries until 30th December.
“McDonald’s Japan will temporarily limit sales of Medium- and Large-sized French Fries as a proactive measure to ensure customers can continue to enjoy McDonald’s, French Fries.
“Customers will still be able to order Small-sized French Fries at all of our restaurants. To date, there have been no breaks in supply,” the company told the BBC on December 22.
The fast-food joint on usual day imports the potatoes used to make its fries from a port near Vancouver in Canada.
But, owing to the impact of the pandemic and damages caused by floods ships have been facing delays which are causing this shortage.
Fixing the Shortage
To keep the supply chain from breaking, McDonald’s is already turning to alternative measures, including flying supplies to Japan, the company said in a statement.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen announced that the company is helping McDonald’s by arranging an emergency airlift of spuds from North America.
The third-party logistics provider chartered three Boeing 747 freighters to rush potatoes to Japan where McDonald’s stores are experiencing a shortage of french fries because of ocean shipping delays.
The Vancouver port has been experiencing a significant reduction in freight rail and truck traffic after flooding and landslides in British Columbia during mid-November. While the CN and Canadian Pacific railroads have reopened rail lines serving the port, they are not operating at full capacity and certain highways remain washed out.
As per officials the port operations and cargo recovery have recently stabilized.
