(cont'd from yesterday's post)
Container ships along the West Coast still back up at our big seaports, and the turmoil is still related to the pandemic. About 800 dock workers in Los Angeles and Long Beach CA couldn't work in January for Covid-related reasons.
On New Year's Day there were a record 106 vessels waiting to unload. Compare that to the typical pre-pandemic number waiting: one. This is the heart of the supply chain crisis you've heard about. The system got way behind because of lockdowns and sick workers, all coming at the same time as a big increase in imported goods.
Maybe the whole complicated system (raw materials/manufacturing/distribution) will have to be tweaked to reduce vulnerability to the shipping sector. Some factories could be placed nearer either the source of raw materials or the distribution end points. But moving factories is neither cheap nor easy. Our system must run efficiently again as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, ships divert to East Coast ports to avoid that West Coast gridlock - resulting in eastern gridlock.
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