NikkeiAsia April 3, 2021 |Transportation|”Freight rates spike as Asian cargo ships jam US West Coast Ports” “Container shortage grows as ports struggle to handle import surge”
By Shuji Nakayama and Hiona Shiraiwa
05April2021 Port of Los Angeles and San Pedro Image marinetraffic.com
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Summary of the article
“An influx of imports from Asia to the U.S. has created a bottleneck at West Coast ports, with backed up cargo ships contributing to a worldwide shortage of containers and soaring shipping rates.”
YOY volume for February at Los Angeles and Long Beach is up 45%. “Dozens of container ships wait offshore” as volume in March surged by 80% on demand from “American consumers [that] look to spend their stimulus checks.” Further compounding the bottleneck is a reduction in available dock workers as COVID-19 has trimmed the workforce by 5%. With fully loaded ships at anchor, the supply of available containers has dwindled driving up prices for shipping by “250% from a year ago” or nearly double for “freight from Europe to the West Coast.” To circumvent shipping challenges at 10 times marine shipping costs “some companies have switched to air transport.” Corporate earnings may be impacted, extra costs could be passed on to consumers and that could reduce overall spending.
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