Wide iPhone 7 availability expected at Apple retail by Oct. 8, international freight logjam to blam

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in iPhone
Apple retail store managers have been informed that all models, colors, and configurations of the iPhone 7 will be available for walk-in customers on Oct. 8 after an international freight logjam holding up arrival of the devices by container ship was partially cleared up.




AppleInsider has been told by multiple sources in the Apple retail supply chain gradual improvements in the stock condition across all of Apple retail are expected "shortly," with the iPhone 7 situation clearing up first. A mass infusion of stock is expected in the beginning of October, leading to full shelves by Oct 8.

"Customers still should reserve online first," we were told. "Just because we'll have stock, doesn't mean that we didn't get cleaned out for the day an hour before you get here."

AppleInsider has seen documents proving that the ongoing Hanjin freight company bankruptcy backing up international shipping delayed some containers full of iPhones and assorted Apple Watch models from arriving prior to the Sept. 16 availability. We have been told that an "unnamed tech company" has paid for some of the outstanding shipping port fees on the U.S. Pacific coast for the Hanjin-owned vessels to allow docking, and offloading of Apple's held-up cargo.

Regardless of more iPhone 7 family phones arriving in the U.S., other big-box resellers aren't seeing improvements in delivery times as of yet. Just before the release date of the iPhone, Target and Best Buy informed many buyers that their pre-order would not arrive for launch, and many of the orders have still yet to ship.

Additionally, we polled the same Target and Best Buy stores that we did on Sept 16, with no stock of any of the new Apple devices available at any location. Employees asked about the situation directed us to the websites of the retailers for more information and ordering.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    That bankruptcy is holding literally billions of dollars worth of merchandise hostage at sea.  This is going to dramatically impact Christmas availability and sales.  Or so my wife in fashion merchandising tells me. 
  • Reply 2 of 28
    volcanvolcan Posts: 1,799member
    I thought they used DHL and FedEx cargo planes.
    edited September 2016
  • Reply 3 of 28
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    That bankruptcy is holding literally billions of dollars worth of merchandise hostage at sea.  This is going to dramatically impact Christmas availability and sales.  Or so my wife in fashion merchandising tells me. 
    I thought most of that was freed up now. Still create a backup at the ports, but no longer being held hostage.
  • Reply 4 of 28
    I was under the impression that for iPhones airplanes are used to move them. At least that is how my Apple Watch 2 got to me. No ship is involved or jammed.
    redgeminipa
  • Reply 5 of 28
    dws-2dws-2 Posts: 276member
    Well now we know a possible reason Apple isn't reporting sales figures this year.
  • Reply 6 of 28
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    "an "unnamed tech company" has paid for some of the outstanding shipping port fees..."

    I wonder if it was Samsung...?
    zroger73gilly017
  • Reply 7 of 28
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,035member
    I ordered a Macbook Pro many years ago and carefully watched the tracking info online. It certainly appeared that it was shipped by air freight. Three days from China to the US certainly isn't done by sea container. Customers/Apple must pay a lot in air freight charges. It is a lot more expensive but I imagine Apple believes that cost is recouped in some supply chain efficiency and customer satisfaction and sales. 
    redgeminipa
  • Reply 8 of 28
    mubaili said:
    I was under the impression that for iPhones airplanes are used to move them. At least that is how my Apple Watch 2 got to me. No ship is involved or jammed.
    Apple doesn't use ships for customer orders. 
  • Reply 9 of 28
    ksecksec Posts: 1,569member
    WTF, Appleinsider making up shit again?

    WHEN did APPLE EVER use Ships for iPhone?

    For a site that DED in some sense try to argue for its value and management practice, this is beyond disgrace.
  • Reply 10 of 28
    volcanvolcan Posts: 1,799member
    ksec said:

    WHEN did APPLE EVER use Ships for iPhone?
    The very first iPhone was delivered by ship. There was a post at the time that said some shipping management company collected data through their tracking service which exposed the location of the Apple shipping containers soon to arrive in a NY port. Since then we've seen posts of DHL cargo planes in China loading up ahead of launch day. It is entirely possible they are using a combination of shipping methods. Planes for the first wave and ships for the holiday shopping season, but that does sort of conflict with the speculation that Apple only keeps a week worth of iPhone inventory.
    edited September 2016 netmage
  • Reply 11 of 28
    As someone who who works for UPS, Apple ships on planes (90% of the time its FedEx). You can see this when you track your package out of China. Most of the time its next stop is Alaska then the lower 48. FedEx feeds out of Memphis and UPS is through Louisville. Never heard of Apple using ships. How would it make it Next Day Air?
    redgeminipa
  • Reply 12 of 28
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    I too was under the impression that Apple ships all their products via air.  This is the first article I've read where container ships have been mentioned.  Is there anyone that can verify this?  I find it rather strong in the BS arena.

    More like AI (as usual) posts first without verifying.

    redgeminipa
  • Reply 13 of 28
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    Apple has used overseas freight for a long time, in conjunction with air shipping. Way, way more economical per unit. Nothing wrong with it. Keeps profits up.
    edited September 2016
  • Reply 14 of 28
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    Use ships for merchandise destined for stores, based supply management forecasts.

    Use planes for merchandise destined to end customer orders.

    Seems to make sense.
    palominenetmage
  • Reply 15 of 28
    By air for customer orders direct from the website.  By cheaper (sea) bulk methods for the stock in Apple Retail stores....
    netmage
  • Reply 16 of 28
    brucemc said:
    Use ships for merchandise destined for stores, based supply management forecasts.

    Use planes for merchandise destined to end customer orders.

    Seems to make sense.
    Exactly!
  • Reply 17 of 28
    I ordered sep 9 in the am and my 2 orders of iphone7plus jet black still say November.. can fix on that log jam help for the plus & jet black?
  • Reply 18 of 28
    My iPhone 7+ JB was supposed to be delivered a couple of days ago. A check on UPS's website last night showed that the 'delivery date' had disappeared, and replaced by "Severe weather conditions have delayed delivery" and "Scheduled delivery information is not available at this time. Please check back later."

    There goes my plan to set it up over the weekend....


    :-/
    redgeminipa
  • Reply 19 of 28
    volcan said:
    I thought they used DHL and FedEx cargo planes.
    Something about this story just doesn't smell right. Why would Apple ship, at this stage of a new product launch, via a slow boat from China, especially when Hanjin (a major ocean shipping firm) has its fleet moored because of its bankruptcy. Then add into the equation that US carriers are out of stock, as are Target, Wal=Mart, Best Buy. etc. Then consider that getting to Europ-e via sea will take about 8 days longer than getting to the US west coast. If you wanted to hurt sales this would be the way to do it.
  • Reply 20 of 28
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    What a peculiar coincidence, that the same day this breaks, availability in Apple's online store
    should go from "ships 2-3 weeks" to "ships 3-4 weeks" for all 4 US carriers for all colors & configs
    (except jet black, of course).
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