Early part orders advised due to supply issues and shipping delays

Complications and red tape around Brexit and COVID-19 have resulted in an increased freight time, supply issues and additional costs on agricultural parts and components.

Although many Irish suppliers and dealers are very well stocked, they are strongly advising farmers and contractors who will be getting machines ready in the coming weeks to order parts sooner rather than later.

In some cases, dealers are also warning of next-day deliveries being pushed out by an additional 12 hours.

“Manufacturers are facing two big issues which are having a knock-on supply effect to dealers. The pandemic is causing a supply problem of materials into manufacturers, while the cost of shipping has also increased and ferry availability is significantly reduced.

"Brexit has also affected the supply chain and has had a huge impact on haulage lead times, with many suppliers taking alternative routes. It’s taking twice as long to get trucks through England at present.

“We are advising customers doing routine maintenance and repairs to forward-order parts by three to four weeks where possible.

"Like many dealers, the service part levels will be reduced this year due to circumstances outside of our control.

"We have provisions in place to carry an increased amount of stock and manufacturers are trying to improve service levels on a weekly basis, but this is difficult in the current climate.”

“We source a lot of parts in Europe and beyond. The biggest issue we are faced with this year is shipping, in particular the availability of containers.

"There are huge amounts of full containers backlogged at ports across the world. As a result, lead times from our suppliers have increased.

“A container coming from China pre-COVID would have been with us within six weeks. This is now 12 or 14 weeks and at an increased cost. Parts and components are arriving to our warehouses, albeit at a slower pace.

“Our stock has absorbed these lead times. We carry a minimum of six months’ worth of stock for all parts so next-day delivery and dealer stock orders continue to be on time.

“Brexit has brought about some logistical issues in importing and exporting parts. We have rerouted some of our suppliers through France to bypass the UK.

"To speed up the dealer deliveries to the UK, since January parts are now pre-cleared by customs before leaving Ireland. Duties and taxes are then paid once the parts have been delivered, not during transport, which slows lead times.

“The costs of raw materials such as copper and steel have increased by up to 35% and 25% respectively in recent months.

"A tractor’s radiator or alternator which may have up to 1kg of copper will naturally be affected price-wise going forward if prices don’t return to where they were.”

“Germany is a major source of agricultural parts. Traditionally, parts would have been delivered by truck through England and into Ireland.

"Since Brexit, these parts have been largely coming by container direct to Ireland. If these parts leave Germany on a Thursday, they will be with us in Cork on a Monday.

"However, if a load has to be split with England and if all the paperwork is above board with no issues, it will take at least a week all going to plan to get it to Ireland.

“We sell to and buy parts from third countries such as America and Israel daily with no issues. To date, Brexit has added more expense and time to importing and exporting parts and has made the whole process much more difficult.

"For example, pre-Brexit, to export a pallet of parts to England it would cost €120 to €140. The red tape and paperwork has added an additional €80 plus VAT per pallet.

“Similar to commodities such as diesel and steel, parts, bale net and plastic have all seen prices increases in recent months.

"Bale plastic is up €6 to €8/roll, while net is up €10/roll. These price hikes are being blamed on the rising costs of the raw materials involved.”