Post by Lonestar on Oct 20, 2021 1:25:37 GMT -5
AS I SEE IT: THE GLOBAL SHIPPING BOTTLENECK
My considered opinion.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
This is a long read, so pour a serving of your favorite beverage and settle in.
The breakdown of the supply chains vital to our economy has finally caught the public eye. Despite Biden's executive order last week, the Port of Los Angeles is not yet operating 24 hours per day, according to analysts at Bank of America. On Tuesday there were about 100 container ships anchored waiting to get into port there and at the Port of Long Beach. Other ports are as bad if not worse.
They'll be waiting awhile. There are still 20,000 fewer truck drivers in the U.S. than there were before the "pandemic." Many truckers who lost their jobs in the initial shutdown appear not to have returned to work. Most likely they have either taken jobs elsewhere or retired altogether. At present the average wait-time for containers to be offloaded at the LA and Long Beach ports is five to six days, twice as long as normal. That leaves the dockyards overcrowded, leaving ships with no place to dock.
Longer operating time for ports may not fix things. Not only are more truckers needed, but shipping companies will need to recruit truckers willing to work a 3 AM-to-8 AM shift. That will be difficult and expensive to do while so many other employers are on a hiring spree. At the end of August there were over 10 million open jobs. Compounding the problem will be the need for warehouse workers to unload trucks at off-hours. Having worked in warehousing, I can tell you that this is hard at any time. It will probably be impossible in a labor shortage.
This global bottleneck places more strain on smaller companies than on larger ones. The largest retailers charter their own container ships and have more leverage with rail and truck companies to move product across the country. It is the smaller importers who will be strained the most. That will be particularly punishing during the holiday season, when many retailers depend on huge sales volumes to put them into profitability for the year.
In my considered opinion, a multi-faceted approach is needed to combat this problem. First and foremost is to counter the shortage of truck drivers. Immediately, the military and its transportation should be pressed into service to ease the burden. While this is happening, the trucking industry should make a concerted effort to retain, recall, and train new drivers (and for security, these need to be American citizens or vetted holders of worker visas). These drivers should be paid a premium wage, especially in that they'll be operating under extreme conditions. When the crisis is indeed over, military involvement can be relieved and overland transportation of goods returned to civilian trucking.
At the same time, trucking Hours-Of-Service and Electronic Logging Device (ELD) regulations should be suspended. (Only as related to HOS and control of truck operation -- ELDs are wired to shut down truck engines. Time-logging for driver pay and online communication should be retained.) To address driver fatigue (both military and civilian), team driving should be encouraged, if not mandated in extreme circumstances.
Rates and routes proffered by transport carriers should be made equitable to all shippers and receivers, not just the bigger concerns that have the power to strongarm (the first to come to mind is Walmart, long reputed to do just this). Let the Little Guy send and receive his product just as well as the Fat Cat.
In the meantime, we should all learn to conserve what we have, innovate where necessary, and do without that which we ultimately do not need. Grow your own food if possible. Make use of food pantries. Network locally for goods and services. Learn to repair things. Help each other. If this sounds much like the vaunted stories of our parents and grandparents during World War II, you're right. Over the past fifty years, globalism has lessened our propensity for self-sufficiency. Let's relearn and practice it again.
In conclusion, we can do this. We have the people, both the able-bodied and the not-so-agile, and all can contribute. We have the government, which is still beholden to the People to do what needs to be done. We should all follow the example of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus: He rose to an emergency, tackled the problem, then returned to normal life once the crisis was over.
Let's beat this crisis.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
(The above article consists of edited reports and the opinion of the author, which may or may not reflect the views of the staff or administration of the electronic or printed venue in which this appears. Copyright 2021 Lonestar/MDB)
My considered opinion.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
This is a long read, so pour a serving of your favorite beverage and settle in.
The breakdown of the supply chains vital to our economy has finally caught the public eye. Despite Biden's executive order last week, the Port of Los Angeles is not yet operating 24 hours per day, according to analysts at Bank of America. On Tuesday there were about 100 container ships anchored waiting to get into port there and at the Port of Long Beach. Other ports are as bad if not worse.
They'll be waiting awhile. There are still 20,000 fewer truck drivers in the U.S. than there were before the "pandemic." Many truckers who lost their jobs in the initial shutdown appear not to have returned to work. Most likely they have either taken jobs elsewhere or retired altogether. At present the average wait-time for containers to be offloaded at the LA and Long Beach ports is five to six days, twice as long as normal. That leaves the dockyards overcrowded, leaving ships with no place to dock.
Longer operating time for ports may not fix things. Not only are more truckers needed, but shipping companies will need to recruit truckers willing to work a 3 AM-to-8 AM shift. That will be difficult and expensive to do while so many other employers are on a hiring spree. At the end of August there were over 10 million open jobs. Compounding the problem will be the need for warehouse workers to unload trucks at off-hours. Having worked in warehousing, I can tell you that this is hard at any time. It will probably be impossible in a labor shortage.
This global bottleneck places more strain on smaller companies than on larger ones. The largest retailers charter their own container ships and have more leverage with rail and truck companies to move product across the country. It is the smaller importers who will be strained the most. That will be particularly punishing during the holiday season, when many retailers depend on huge sales volumes to put them into profitability for the year.
In my considered opinion, a multi-faceted approach is needed to combat this problem. First and foremost is to counter the shortage of truck drivers. Immediately, the military and its transportation should be pressed into service to ease the burden. While this is happening, the trucking industry should make a concerted effort to retain, recall, and train new drivers (and for security, these need to be American citizens or vetted holders of worker visas). These drivers should be paid a premium wage, especially in that they'll be operating under extreme conditions. When the crisis is indeed over, military involvement can be relieved and overland transportation of goods returned to civilian trucking.
At the same time, trucking Hours-Of-Service and Electronic Logging Device (ELD) regulations should be suspended. (Only as related to HOS and control of truck operation -- ELDs are wired to shut down truck engines. Time-logging for driver pay and online communication should be retained.) To address driver fatigue (both military and civilian), team driving should be encouraged, if not mandated in extreme circumstances.
Rates and routes proffered by transport carriers should be made equitable to all shippers and receivers, not just the bigger concerns that have the power to strongarm (the first to come to mind is Walmart, long reputed to do just this). Let the Little Guy send and receive his product just as well as the Fat Cat.
In the meantime, we should all learn to conserve what we have, innovate where necessary, and do without that which we ultimately do not need. Grow your own food if possible. Make use of food pantries. Network locally for goods and services. Learn to repair things. Help each other. If this sounds much like the vaunted stories of our parents and grandparents during World War II, you're right. Over the past fifty years, globalism has lessened our propensity for self-sufficiency. Let's relearn and practice it again.
In conclusion, we can do this. We have the people, both the able-bodied and the not-so-agile, and all can contribute. We have the government, which is still beholden to the People to do what needs to be done. We should all follow the example of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus: He rose to an emergency, tackled the problem, then returned to normal life once the crisis was over.
Let's beat this crisis.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
(The above article consists of edited reports and the opinion of the author, which may or may not reflect the views of the staff or administration of the electronic or printed venue in which this appears. Copyright 2021 Lonestar/MDB)
