The cannabis industry breathed a sigh of relief as news of the East Coast port strike settlement ended a week of uncertainty. The industry, which has already had its fair share of challenges, certainly didn’t need another problem.
While cannabis in the U.S. can’t cross state or federal lines, many of the components that go into packaging and vaporizers can – and does. Most vape hardware, in fact, comes from overseas. And as the East Coast has ramped its new markets, many more of those products were coming directly into East Coast ports.
No good solutions
“There’s nothing made in the United States on the vape side,” Dana Shoched, president of O2 Vape, said. And while there were option if the strike held, those options were far from ideal. She outlined some of those to Green Market Report.
“If they start getting jacked up, what do you think’s going to happen?” Shoched posited. “Everyone’s going to have to divert. So everyone’s going to have to say, ‘OK, well let’s just go into the port of California.’ Or they’ll say, ‘I’ll truck it across the country, put it on the rail, or whatever.’ Or people will say, well, I’ll just fly my stuff in, and then now the planes are going to get backed up, which they’re already.”
Relief
When the end to the strike was announced, Dan DiCapite, president of Brooklyn-based cannabis packaging company Canna Supply House, simply said, “We’re super relieved.”
While many of the final products from Canna Supply House are made domestically, the components – such as paper or stock – “could be coming from anywhere around the globe,” DiCapite said. “So we might be making our product in Brooklyn, but we still rely on resources and materials from around the globe.”
So a total shut down of the Eastern Seaboard, “would’ve been a disaster.”
The company was starting to make alternate shipping plans to reroute items, but it decided to wait and see if the situation was resolved itself.
Be prepared
The issue caused significant anxiety for many in the cannabis supply chain, Pete Sahani, CEO of vape company The Blinc Group, said. He noted that the availability of vape hardware is reliant on consistent supply chains.
“While we respect workers’ rights to advocate for better conditions, the timing and scale of the strike amplif(ied) supply chain vulnerabilities, potentially hindering the growth and progress of emerging industries like ours,” Sahani said.
A key to responding to such disruptions, however, is to be prepared for them, he said.
“Blinc has evolved its operations and fulfillment teams into essentially a supply chain solutions provider,” Sahani said. “As such, we work very closely with our clients to manage and mitigate risk to the supply chain.”
A critical component of that preparation: solid communication with supply chain partners.
“This has been a long-term discussion, and Blinc has always focused on working with our clients to resolve the multiple areas of supply chain risk, whether it be vape hardware, packaging or other ancillary products.”
And just because this strike is over, that doesn’t mean companies should become complacent. As the Boy Scouts say: Be prepared.