The Ever Given cargo ship that block the Suez Canal is free. Now we can focus on the supply chain issues affecting our own country, and they are legit.
The issues are primarily in the Southern California ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, where as of Thursday 28 ships were anchored and waiting to dock.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, located next to each other are responsible for roughly one third of of US imports, and when it comes to goods arriving from China, this is where most of them arrive.
The So Cal ports are normally busy, but being anchored is not a normal occurrence, and right now the boats looking to unload their goods are backed up much more than usual.
The disruptions they cause can have long-lasting effects too.
The ships that pass through the ports in Southern California all carry millions and millions of dollars worth of supplies that are the most popular imports. Furniture, auto parts, clothing, electronics and plastics takes up a big percentage of the inventory on this ships.
The backup of ships in Southern California has been a problem all of 2021. On January 30, a record 38 container ships were waiting for room to dock.
The Ever Given opened the world’s eyes to how much cargo can be transported on a massive ship. Over 20,000 containers were on the Ever Given, and similar sized boats are waiting to dock in Southern California right now.
And Los Angeles is a microcosm of issues in other ports around the world, which has led to another problem for the import and export business; a shortage of crates. When massive cargo ships are sitting idol, the crates can’t be used to pack new shipments of goods.
How does this affect the average consumer? Watch for rising prices and smaller quantities of items you want to buy. You will see the effects what’s going on in the ports around the world if you haven’t already.
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