All over the globe, there are product and service shortages in every sector. I’ve already touched on it in a previous blog , and it’s not going away anytime soon.
At Huston Patterson we are currently seeing the longest delays in the paper supply since our company began over a century ago. In addition, our nations’ supply chain issues reflect what we are seeing daily, and the source of these delays is all too apparent to me while looking out at the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles, California.
Flying in and out of LAX Airport regularly, I can often see the back up for myself. Cargo ships are everywhere, and they have been for months.
This article from Business Insider reports that a new record is being broken nearly every day as to the number of ships waiting to be unloaded.
A few days before Halloween, it was reported hat over 100 ships are waiting at The Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach has its own backlog of over 60 ships, both new daily records.
Nearly 170 cargo ships are sitting and waiting to be unloaded and it’s not going to happen as fast as we all would like for it to.
There are shortages in truck drivers, trucks, trailers, dock workers, gas prices are of course on the rise, and oh yeah…these ports aren’t built to handle this amount of traffic or all of the new, much larger cargo ships. The ports are outdated, with older equipment not suited for the newer ships. Each ship takes a longer time to unload and process, and therefore the backlog is continuing to grow.
Both Long Beach and LA ports are now working around the clock in an attempt to clear the ocean and move products into and across the country. But it’s going to take time, and as the holiday season is quickly approaching, time may unfortunately run out on some products and goods.
This year we will have to continue to innovate and adapt, and you may have to buy your gifts a little earlier than usual. Also try to seek out those items that are already in stock to avoid disappointments when delays happen in our supply chain, because they are going to happen!
Hopefully a full recovery is in the (near) future, but in the meantime, we will have to plan ahead and practice our patience!
For more tips from the Real People of HP like me, Kyle Milley, explore our additional blogs and videos, or contact us directly at Huston Patterson.