Cargo ship backlog

[clarkrl2]

This is an article that talks about a huge backlog of cargo ships waiting to unload on the west coast. I have noticed more empty shelves at our local grocery store. link 

ETA: I think I have the link corrected.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

It may be because I’m on my phone and not a computer, but that link is taking me to the yahoo news home page.

I live near a west coast port that is under-utilized. It’s be lovely for our local economy if they’d let cargo ships come here.

[clarkrl2]

Treading Water Chloe I think I have the link corrected and thank you for bringing it to my attention. 

[Deleted]

I've seen an article also with picture, 56 ships I think, all anchored along the coast. 

Looks like more.


Edit;  It's up to 70 now.

lasvegas.cbslocal.com/video/6016318-record-70-cargo-ships-waiting-to-unload-off-port-of-la/

[clarkrl2]

That has to be a huge cost having all those container ships sitting in the harbor. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Crazy. We don’t have cargo ships too often; we mostly have timber, lumber, and sawdust ships. Even though we have the deepest usable port between Seattle and LA, Because we are not even a smidgen of a metropolis, our bay/port is completely underutilized. I’ll have to see if I can figure out what size ships we take compared to the ones in the article.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Sept 22, 2021 20:39:05 GMT -5 clarkrl2 said:

That has to be a huge cost having all those container ships sitting in the harbor. 

Just paying the staff and diesel would be exorbitant.

[mroped]

Cargo ships work on set schedule. Prices for the goods that they delivered are set for exact dates.
Ie: if a cargo ship hauls toilet paper from China to US and is set to dock in LA on the 25th of September at 9am, that’s the only time that ship can dock. If you are early(sometimes 2-3 days) you sit on anchor until is your turn. Your expenses are already covered in the deal.
The problem is when you are late because the harbor makes you pay exorbitant fees for throwing off their schedule. If you miss your schedule, you no only have to pay late fees but wait until you get a spot which in a heavy traffic harbor as LA, can be a huge problem.
Everything time wise, is calculated and planned down to the minute.

Generally, people think that the ship shows up, gets docked and loads/unloads. Far from it, it’s a lot more complicated. The logistics of it it’s a nightmare!
Lately, a lot of the scheduling is based on availability of trucking and it’s putting a lot of stress on everything.
I don’t believe that the “empty shelves” are caused by delay in shipping or trucking. It’s simply the fallout from the introduction of tariffs on Chinese made goods for which we didn’t find a replacement source yet.

 

[kadee79]

There is a major shortage of long haul truck drivers.  Until that gets fixed, it's going to back up a lot of items.  

This is another reason for more goods to be produced in the US!