Ball & Doggett has announced that it will be raising the prices on a range of its products from 15 March as a result of increasing shipping and pulp costs.
Customers can expect prices of some of its solutions to be upward of between three and nine per cent, with Ball & Doggett national marketing manager Tony Bertrand confirming with Sprinter that “all imported products are affected by cost increases”.
In a statement, the company said, “Although we are all looking forward to a world without COVID-19, we are still dealing with its impact and will be for some time. In an unprecedented move, international shipping costs have increased exponentially. These increases impact all imported products from around the world.
“The factors driving this include increases to local landing charges, a shortage of empty containers and vessels worldwide, consolidation of global shipping lines controlling supply and demand of containers and vessels, with routes from South East Asia increasing by as much as 500 per cent, as well as the surge in spot rates.
“Along with this, schedule reliability is at its worst ever level. This is due to a number of reasons including port congestion, COVID-19 work force constraints, blank sailings and trans-shipments.
“So how long will these shipping cost increases stick around for? Nobody is sure, the industry experts are predicting at least through to the end of 2021. We’ll continue to try and mitigate the impact as much as possible by reducing expenses in other parts of our business.”
According to the company, in recent months, pulp pricing, especially, has increased by circa 30 per cent. Some of the key drivers include:
- High demand for fiber based packaging, building and textiles as economies rebound from COVID
- Strong shift from plastic to fiber based packaging due to environmental concerns
- Unsustainable low historic pricing from all pulp manufacturers globally.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely, provide information to you as it becomes available.
These are unprecedented times with complex supply challenges. Ball & Doggett is working hard to mitigate the impact of these supply chain issues and remain committed to ensuring consistent supply of our range of products,” it added.
Ball & Doggett has also further developed its anti-microbial textured film, Airpurity, which was launched last year.
The solution is now Test Method UL-94 VTM and Level VTM-2 tested and accredited, which determines relative flammability for plastic materials.
“This accreditation places Airpurity as the complete package for hygienic and anti- microbial film by offering anti-viral (JIS Z 2801 | ATCC VR 740) and anti-bacterial (ISO 22196 | JIS Z 2801:2010) qualification – killing viruses, germs and bacteria immediately, sterilising hands on impact/touch with Airpurity,” Ball & Doggett national corporate manager Peter Hansen said.
“Together with the ability to purify, deodorise (FTM-5-2) and clean the surrounding air; it provides assurance for the end-user with an all-round hygienic solution for any environment.
“We are excited by these developments and continue to push for a safer community – both in our homes and the public sector. Imagine the reduction in littered sanitary wipes if Airpurity were wrapped around all shopping trolley handles.”
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