High truck driver shortages, global container shortages and increased truck turn times are the most pressing issues causing major bottlenecks in the supply chain.
TRUCKING ISSUES
Compared to November of 2019, trucking companies are reporting a deficit of over 55,000 employees. The driver shortage is the primary concern with regards to capacity constraints, while record volume imports continue to come into U.S. ports.
Adding to the constraint are shortages of dock and warehouse workers who load and unload containers at shippers’ locations.
Turn times at the terminals at Los Angeles/Long Beach ports have not improved but instead have increased since the summer to an average of 1 to 1.5 hours. Truck turn times at New York/New Jersey terminals are worse, averaging 2.5 to 3 hours.
CONTAINER SHORTAGES
Supply chains across the globe are hurting due to emergency container shortages. In North America and China, containers are stuck at inland depots for an average of 61 to 66 days, about 20 days longer than the global average, escalating equipment shortages.
Asia is seeing the greatest shortages, while Europe is also trying to manage container shortfalls.
The rate of new container production was down last year and fell further in Q1 of this year when demand was low due to the start of the pandemic. Now, a sudden spike in demand has increased purchase prices for new containers out of China, increasing by roughly $1,000 per container and leasing rates have increased about 50% over the last six months.
U.S. PORTS
As West Coast ports continue to work though congestion, East Coast ports have begun to see import volumes shifting their direction. From an equipment perspective, this shift in volume is adding to the increased dwell times at East Coast chassis depots, already challenged by the limited supply of container chassis.
Terminal dell times at West Coast ports are up to nearly 10 days for 20ft container chassis and 4 days for 40/45ft equipment, compared to last month’s dwells of 7+ days and 3 days, respectively. Street dwells have also worsened to over 6 days for 20ft and nearly 8 days for 40/45ft container chassis. Last month the number of days chassis spent away from ports was 5 and 7 days, respectfully.
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