thebigp

Keely Sharp—think americana--October 4, 2021

Could we be looking at even more of a shortage of goods in the weeks to come? The answer is yes...However, not so much of a shortage as it is an issue of getting the goods unloaded from cargo ships and then delivered to distributors.
The Biden administration is facing a crisis of backlogged cargo container ships, which are currently anchored off the coasts of California and New York. The ships are facing a waiting period of up to four weeks just to unload their shipments.
WHY THOUGH?? What is going on??
According to the Daily Mail “Dozens of cargo ships anchored off the coasts of Los Angeles and New York face shocking wait times of up to four weeks and railyards and trucking routes are hopelessly clogged due to the lack of manpower to unload goods."
Demands are higher and people are spending more money on goods, and les on travel and entertainment. That combined with the lack of manpower and labor is creating a shortage.
“Global infrastructure was not designed to handle goods at such a rate,” one expert told Daily Mail. “Supply chains are the artery who feeds our entire ecosystem. The government needs to intervene to stop this crisis immediately, or face increased inflation and unemployment, and economic breakdown – or face an end to global trade.’
Footage obtained by DailyMail.com shows the scale of the problem on the seas with more than a dozen cargo ships and oil tankers anchored outside New York’s harbor, waiting to unload their goods.
Ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach – two of the most popular shipping destinations in the US – are currently housing vessels that have been left anchored for four weeks.
The ports saw as many as 73 vessels waiting to unload earlier in September, and 66 container ships this week, according to Marine Exchange of Southern California data cited by The Wall Street Journal.
There are approximately 500,000 shipping containers off the coast of California alone, and truck drivers l lined up waiting to t***sport the goods, according to CBS Los Angeles.
“I’ve got friends right now that are in line… from nine o’clock in the morning and they can’t pull the load yet,” said truck driver Walter Martinez. “The people inside, they get paid by the hour, but not the drivers.”
Truck driver Oscar Ovalle confirmed that he waited from 8 p.m to 3 a.m. in the morning, with one crane lifting containers for 60 trucks.
Daily Mail added, “Consumer experts have warned Americans to begin doing their Christmas shopping now, to ensure goods arrive on time, and to ensure there’s time to try and find an alternative if a desired gift is one of the products that is currently scarce.”