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Dusty123
Contributor
oops
DiveGearExpress
Contributor
As many rebreather divers are aware, there was a widespread lack of availability of Sofnolime 797 (aka 8-12 mesh) absorbent in the US during the summer of 2022. This was caused by the sale of Molecular Products and the parent company changing their distribution strategy, that resulted in a domestic US stock-out of Sofnolime from their Texas 3PL warehouse combined with severe disruption of supply chain logistics for sea freight from the UK to the US. As of Friday 2-Sep-2022, we now have plenty of inventory on Sofnolime 797 NI in 20 Kg kegs and are shipping orders same business day. There has been a substantial retail price increase. Although the raw cost of the material itself has of course increased, the retail price of Sofnolime in the US is primarily determined by the cost of supply chain logistics and distribution. Thus the retail price is expected to fluctuate (and hopefully improve when the egregious costs of containerized sea freight and OTR transport eventually normalize.) To see our current price, visit Sofnolime 797 CO2 Absorbent 8-12 Mesh Granules, Non-Indicating {44 lb | 20 kg} Keg
DiveGearExpress
Contributor
Three things are at work to explain... A change in ownership of MolProd has resulted in an reorganization of the US office and logistics (they apparently no longer warehouse Sofnolime in the US) as well as the inevitable price increases, but also in the US there is a distributor middle man for Sofnolime for recreational diving applications and finally this year (as nearly every retailer in America has experienced) the supply chain logistics have been brutal. Not just the egregiously skyrocketing costs of sea freight and drayage, but the transport delays... shipboard container availability, container ship availability itself, availability of dock workers.... even the availability of truck drivers!
Sorb retail has always been roughly double what you see in the UK, but now it looks like triple (ex. VAT) although I suspect you are correct the UK price will "catch up" at least some. Ironically, here in the US, rebreather absorbent is typically sold for near landed cost by dive retailers - similar to aluminum 80 cylinders, so many local dive shops don't want to bother with it because it's not profitable. However, it's possible some of our supply chain costs will improve later. The good news is that our absorbent pipeline is now quite full in the US, and there is no reason to be at all concerned about availability. This stuff is not toilet paper and so we recommend only buying what you need, no reason to hoard.
@DiveGearExpress
Do you know which UK port the sorb comes out of? There was an 8 day strike at Felixstowe, which really gummed things up (I’m a customs broker/do freight forwarding).
Do you know which UK port the sorb comes out of? There was an 8 day strike at Felixstowe, which really gummed things up (I’m a customs broker/do freight forwarding).
DiveGearExpress
Contributor
The US east coast is backed up bad. A few weeks ago there were 40 ships at anchor off Savannah.
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