NEW YORK/LONDON : Retailers worldwide are stocking up on goods before China’s Lunar New Year holiday and seeking air or rail alternatives to transportation via the Red Sea in a scramble to avoid empty shelves this spring, executives and experts told Reuters. One European retailer said it was delaying marketing campaigns for some specific goods until stocks were secured. Major container ship operators like Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are re-routing vessels away from the Suez Canal – the shortest route from Asia to Europe – after militant attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. The diversions have raised fears of another prolonged disruption to global trade just as supply chains unsnarl after the COVID pandemic. Going around southern Africa instead adds…
