Posted on 09/29/2021 5:14:54 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Several industry groups have warned world leaders of a worldwide supply-chain “system collapse” due to pandemic restrictions, coming as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggested that the current period of higher inflation will last until 2022.
The International Chamber of Shipping, a coalition of truck drivers, seafarers, and airline workers, has warned in a letter to heads of state attending the United Nations General Assembly that governments need to restore freedom of movement to transportation workers amid persistent COVID-19 restrictions and quarantines.
If nothing is done, they warned of a “global transport system collapse” and suggested that “global supply chains are beginning to buckle as two years’ worth of strain on transport workers take their toll,” according to the letter. It was signed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Road Transport Union (IRU), and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), which represent some 65 million transport workers around the world.
“All transport sectors are also seeing a shortage of workers, and expect more to leave as a result of the poor treatment millions have faced during the pandemic, putting the supply chain under greater threat,” the letter said. “We also ask that WHO and the ILO raise this at the U.N. General Assembly and call on heads of government to take meaningful and swift action to resolve this crisis now,” they wrote.
Meanwhile, retailer Costco said it’s chartering its own container ships between Asia and North America amid supply chain issues worldwide, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said in a recent conference call.
Costco, he said, is dealing with “port delays, container shortages, COVID disruptions, shortages on various components, raw materials and ingredients, labor cost pressures” along with “trucks and driver shortages,” Fox News reported.
Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, attempted to shed some light on the problem during a recent ABC News interview, noting that there’s a significant backup of container ships off the coast of major ports of entry.
“We’re witnessing a pandemic-induced buying surge by the American consumer, the likes of which we’ve never seen,” he told the network on Sept. 29.
In remarks on Sept. 29, Powell said that the current spike in inflation is a “consequence of supply constraints meeting very strong demand,” saying it’s “associated with the reopening of the economy, which is a process that will have a beginning, middle and an end.”
“It’s very difficult to say how big the effects will be in the meantime or how long they last,” Powell said during a forum hosted by the European Central Bank. The current price surge, he said, is due to bottlenecks in the supply chain, although he believes prices will eventually come down on their own. The surge will continue into 2022 before dropping, Powell said.
The Federal Reserve doesn’t anticipate the current trend to “lead to a new inflation regime, in which inflation remains high year after year,” Powell said.
“Managing through that process over the next couple of years is … going to be very challenging because we have this hypothesis that inflation is going to be transitory. We think that’s right,” Powell said. “But we are concerned about underlying inflation expectations remaining stable, as they have so far.”
“pandemic restrictions” = artificial shortages
All we have to fear is government itself.
i.e. we might not be able to get crap from China.
I’m reading various reports of supply chain problems.
Don’t know exactly what to say about it.
>>“We’re witnessing a pandemic-induced buying surge by the American consumer, the likes of which we’ve never seen,” he told the network on Sept. 29
Printing all that money and spreading it around had nothing to do with it?
Yes and no. My company has had to extend lead times on products we manufacture. Some are up to 120 days then up to 70 in potential shipping delays. Freight costs through the roof. Its crazy
Yo Costco. You booked your own container ships? Great. How you going to get them unloaded and hauled?
The problem isn’t too few ships. It is backlog at the ports.
Yeah, I am paying 2-3xs pre pandemic rates for both LTL and truck loads
I’ve never been so happy to be retired and left to my own devices than I am these days! :)
That said, I did my time in the trenches managing a multi-million dollar business during the ‘0bama Reign of Error’ and all the 0bamacare BS restrictions on hiring and getting the job DONE...in 32 hours instead of 40 each week.
*SPIT*
Don’t worry! The Biden Democrats are goin to fix everything! All we have to do is spend $5.5 trillion more! /s
The paper goods shelves here in North Idaho are getting rather sparse. The name brand goods are often nearly bare but the no-name brands are plentiful. I’m picking up a jumbo package of TP every time I go the the store.
One store was completely out of distilled water today. Another store was down to about six gallon jugs buried way in the back. I bought four of them.
Galvanized plumbing fittings at one hardware store are all gone. They have a sign up saying you may buy only two of some products.
This is absolutely nuts. Why is this happening? Is nobody working anywhere?
In the next few weeks, the OSHA vaccine rules take effect and companies will lose a lot of workers. It’s going to get a lot worse.
meanwhile -
29 Sept: BBC: China: Big spender or loan shark?
by Celia Hatton
China hands out at least twice as much development money as the US and other major powers, new evidence shows, with most of it coming in the form of risky high-interest loans from Chinese state banks...
Over an 18-year period, China has granted or loaned money to 13,427 infrastructure projects worth $843bn across 165 countries, according to the AidData research lab at William & Mary, a university in the US state of Virginia.
Much of this money is linked to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious Belt and Road strategy...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58679039
“Is nobody working anywhere? In the next few weeks, the OSHA vaccine rules take effect and companies will lose a lot of workers. It’s going to get a lot worse.”
I’m extremely curious about this, too. How on Earth can people NOT work? I mean, the extra unemployment cash was cut off at the beginning of September. My sister lost her job during Covid, got another job, then lost that one too due to Covid. She is STILL waiting for UC from the FIRST layoff.
What are these people doing for money? How are they surviving? I’m not seeing people in the streets and our local Food Pantry hasn’t been any busier than normal.
There is a HUGE disconnect somewhere.
We’re going to have well over 10% inflation over the period from 2020 through 2022 imo. Shortages and supply/delivery delays across the board. Those industries and brands/companies that can afford to hoard or pay extra for materials will do it while the little guy has a very hard time sourcing input materials for just about any industry. An employee here went to fast food for lunch and they gave him a blank cup - no branding printed on it like you’d normally see.
I know a guy not far from my office who prints signs and banners. He was practically out of business during covid since there were no conventions, no trade shows, no new product launches etc. He had just spend $150,000 on new equipment too which he expected to use. His problem now is that the inks expire and he has had to go all over the country looking for gallon boxes of ink with long expiration dates.
He also makes pop up displays. He prints the fabric but has to order the pop-up contraption from China to the west coast. Was $1800 per container back in 2019. He just paid $11,000 for a container load. Told me there are 120 ships waiting to be unloaded at the port.
To keep from inventory taxes here in WA, Boeing uses a concept of JIT (Just In Time) for parts - IOW, they order the parts to come in as needed, not stocked - now then, with this looming shortage of personnel to handle the cargo (Boeing gets parts from all over the world) it’ll be interesting to see if their aircraft delivery will stay on time.
Maybe, maybe not.
The left always tips their hand of what they have in mind for us when they warn us of stuff they can control.
They call it making predictions and then it comes to pass and look how wonderful they were. They could see it coming and warn us and offer a *solution* which will never work.
In reality, they are manufacturing the crisis.
It always pays to watch what they are in a tail spin over.
Inventory tax is one of the worst ideas ever thought of.
Ive been talking to all the store managers I use
Its factors all across the board
Its less long haul truck drivers
Plus drivers will drop you if others offer more to ship their stuff, this is happenig now
Its sometimes not having sources for you supplies, they cant produce enough and/or get it transported, or your suppliers have shut down altogether and there are few/no alternatives
Its dock workers, sometimes not enough of them, or sometimes not enough truck drivers to move stuff off the docks
Fedex is down 30,000 workers across the company, if yu are wondering how they used to be excellent but have started to suck more lately
It’s what (D)’s do best.
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