Supply Chain Issues could bring more empty shelves

There are massive supply chain issues, scores of cargo ships are anchored offshore because we can’t handle unloading them. The crowding is worst onboard ships sailing into US west coast ports. At the Port of Long Beach, the average ship now brings in 7,000 containers—up 70% from the pre-pandemic average of roughly 4,000 containers.

According to CBS Los Angeles, up to 500,000 shipping containers are floating off the Southern California coast, with truck drivers waiting in line for hours to transport their scheduled shipments. There is no real solution on how to handlw the backlog.

Dozens of cargo ships anchored off the coast of New York face wait times of up to four weeks and railyards and trucking routes are hopelessly clogged due to the lack of manpower to unload goods eported the Daily Mail.

Delays will likely create pains for shoppers throughout the holidays.

Lack of manpower in conjunction with intense coronavirus restrictions, American ports have simply been unable to unload the shipments in a timely manner.

Much of this was caused by policies around the pandemic. Demand for consumer goods rose, especially via e-commerce, straining supply chains. Space onboard container ships became scarce and expensive, which incentivized shipping lines to cram every available inch with cargo to maximize the amount of revenue.

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Wayne Creed

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