Shipping Delays Worsening Once Again, Here’s Why
Port logjams may once again severely impact the nation as shipping delays intensify exponentially.
This article is more than 2 years old
The immense effects that the global pandemic had on every facet of the world’s economies continue to percolate. In the United States, product shortages for vital items such as baby formula continue to plague a still reeling nation. Images of severe stalwarts at the country’s busiest ports became common sights. Those extreme logjams are resurfacing. Spurned by the latest round of China’s Covid-related lockdowns in Shanghai, ports are backing up. Unfortunately, yet perhaps predictably, CNN reported that these growing back-ups are once again expected to fuel extreme shipping delays.
Shanghai, being that it is home to the largest container port in the world, has been fielding intense shipping delay backups as lockdown restrictions ease and port employees return to work. The buildup of containers waiting for embarkment has caused mounting delays at major ports in both the Americas and Europe as Shanghai-based transporters desperately try to alleviate their backlog. The increasing traffic of cargo ships on the seas and the influx of containers arriving in the United States and Europe have caused processing to extend by approximately four days. The extended time it’s taking to unload the backlog of cargo is directly affecting when items can be shipped, hence inciting worse delays.
Further exacerbating shipping delays is the fact that Shanghai truck drivers are still contending with tight Covid restrictions. Moving product from a point of origin to the intended port of call is being hampered by route stops and closures. These route stops and closures were implemented in Shanghai so as to funnel all travelers to Covid testing sites to be tested as they make their way to their destination. This is causing all of the truck drivers to arrive at the port in clusters. As a result, an immense amount of products are being shipped all at once. This is serving to further overwhelm staff at the destination ports which is, in turn, contributing to the worsening shipping delays.
Due to the extenuating circumstances, experts are predicting that consumers can expect shipping delays to continue for a few more months at the very least. “The ripples in shipment delays are only beginning to become visible and are expected to extend well into the next few months,” noted a market expert in Brazil. Those familiar with the continuing port logjams in the United States are expressing their concerns, too. Shelley Simpson, who works as the chief commercial officer for JB Hunt Transport Services, pointed out that the US just barely recovered from the extreme situation at its ports and the situation as a whole still remains quite precarious. Simpson emphasized that it, “just takes a little bit of disruption to really change the environment all over again.” Essentially, the US is teetering on a very fine tightrope at the moment.
Overall, the outlook for shipping delays intensifying looks inevitable. Mitigating circumstances out the supply chain workers’ control is spawning an emerging chain reaction. Ultimately, as the dominoes begin to fall the real gravity of the shipping delays situation will begin to reveal itself. Hitting a faltering system when it’s already down spells difficulty on the road ahead. How difficult that road may be, however, is something that only time can reveal.
