Ships at California ports are now waiting RECORD 17 days to unload: Supply crisis gets worse after Biden vowed to fix it

As a guy who used to route shipping for two different companies, I can tell you that the Longshoreman's Union strike in 2002 convinced me to move to Seattle-Tacoma over the objections of our parent company in Japan.

They loved Los Angeles-Long Beach because there were a choice of vessels leaving port daily. Those that called at Seattle-Tacoma might be as few as three per week. With much haggling, I convinced them that the three extra days (at most) to use Seattle-Tacoma was nothing to overcome the congestions and strike-risk in LA-Long Beach.

Things went smoothly for a few years thereafter until other small shippers (like us) begin to make the switch. We would sometimes loose up to another week in Chicago as the big importers would overwhelm the need for rail transportation from Chicago to the final container yard (just outside of Pittsburgh, in our case).

So, we moved on to phase 3-- pay a little more for ocean shipping through the Panama Canal and unload in east coast ports only a day or two by rail to the final container yard. The little extra in ocean shipping charge was largely offset by the reduction in overland transportation charges. But best of all, we didn't have to deal with congestion issues either at the port or the railyard. IOW, we paid just a little extra for dependable delivery.

This might not be an option for whole trainload importers like Wal-Mart, but it was a definite option of 3-4 containers per month importers like the companies for which I managed shipments.

Thanks, Vigilanteman. I asked this question yesterday to a pal who rubs elbows with most of the international business people in the Seattle area. He shrugged his shoulders, and replied that the latest complaints from the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma are the “alleged” lack of “warehouse space” (whatever that means). Sounds suspicious. What has changed in the past couple of years to create the sudden/almost magical (and certainly “unexpected” lack of “warehouse space?”

Is there a pact between union bosses in California and Washington that prevents “poaching” (i.e., competition)?

I'd suspect there is some sort of agreement between the two since the common thread is the International Longshoreman's Union. I decided back during the 2002 strike that the Maritime Association (representing management) were a bunch of wimps because of the way they folded like a cheap lawn chair.

Back in the days when they published the shipping news (with all the action at your local port in your edition), every major port on the east coast advertised for business. I do not even recall seeing one for a west coast port; you had to seek them out.

In those days, the people managing shipping were almost all men, so there were a lot of scantily clad women in the ads and you paid attention to them.

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