Posted on 12/04/2021 3:15:10 PM PST by blam
President Biden told Americans that the supply chain is in “very strong shape” ahead of Christmas. Speaking from the White House Wednesday, Biden said his administration has partnered with the private sector to “ensure the store shelves are stocked.” But new shipping data shows snarled supply chains are worsening, and it could take months to untangle them.
New shipping data from the busiest U.S. port complex, Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, shows 96 container ships idled offshore, waiting to unload cargo.
FreightWaves’ Greg Miller described a new queuing system for vessels as pure optics, which reduces the number of ships offshore of Los Angeles/Long Beach. He said ships are being placed in holding patterns further out into the ocean where they’re out of sight and out of mind — to prevent attention-grabbing aerial imagery of container ship logjams.
The new queuing system has divided vessels into a couple of categories: 40 ships anchored within 40 miles of the ports and 56 outside that perimeter. With the line continuing to get longer at the U.S.’ largest containerized ports, the Biden miracle to save Christmas appears to be failing.
What’s also worsening are wait times. It now takes 21 days, or three weeks, for a vessel to enter the twin ports, that’s up from seven in August.
Biden’s effort to reduce dwell times is not working, even after he announced a new directive for the twin ports in mid-October to operate on a 24/7 basis. We noted at the time, in a piece titled “Here’s The Truth Behind Biden’s 24/7 Port Operations Pledge,” that the move would not save Christmas.
There’s even more confirmation that disputes the president’s claim supply chains are easing. FreightWaves’ Clarissa Hawes said, “we are drowning on the landside by long lines and staffing issues at the terminals.” She said a flawed appointment system and other efficiency issues for drayage truckers continue to plague the twin ports.
Biden’s attempt to save Christmas appears to be failing. There’s still time to call in the National Guard. At least now the administration can blame the new Omicron COVID-19 variant on why some store shelves are still bare.
Skip Ross used to give a presentation on what he called “Dynamic Living” in part of which he advocated what we now call “decluttering”: the elimination of excess, unused objects. In his example he said, “Go to your closet. Anything in there you haven’t worn for a year — get rid of it.”
And, then extend that mode of thinking throughout the house. It’s a process that demands of every object a credible reason for its continued occupation of space on the premises, and demands of the individual that they quit making lame excuses for saving things they’ll never again need.
I think the greatest obstacle is what might be called “The Fear of Murphy.” You’ve heard of Murphy’s Law: “Whatever can go wrong will.” There’s a corollary that says, “For any given seldom-used object, the moment of its greatest utility will arise the day after it goes out with the trash.”
The fear of facing that eventuality is “The Fear of Murphy.”
Biden’s people say we are buying too much and this caused the problem and that he has also solved the backlog. He just had the ships sail out of sight to wait....
That sounds correct. They make great snacks and hors d’oeuvres (triscuit cracker + cream cheese + candied jalapeño) and are delicious on burgers. When the jar is done, pour the remaining sauce over salmon before baking. So yum.
If Christmas needs saving by ships from China it should be abolished.
The two Christmases are at war, and the false one is winning.
The true Christmas season begins on the first Sunday of Advent, and ends on Epiphany (yes, yes, I know Advent and Christmas are separate, but go with it for a minute).
The false Christmas season begins sometime in September now, and ends at midnight on December 24, when no one can buy anything any more.
Only the false Christmas needs saving when the ships don’t dock. True Christmas could be saved by sinking the ships on the high seas.
Gotcha!
I tell the wife, “but I’ll probably need that next month!”
China or Christmas?
LOL!
I’m right there with ya.
BTW, if you’re the least bit curious about who Skip Ross is, or what Dynamic Living is about, I ran across a video he recorded from a live stream from mid-2019 — now, bear in mind, Skip has been giving his Dynamic Living presentation in evolving form since the late 1970’s, and there’s been a lotta watta under the bridge in the past 45 years, so the present iteration isn’t exactly as I recall it, but he gets into it at about the 40-42 minute mark in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGZ5RHHDt0k
Come on, there’s lots of items made in America.
Just something to bash Biden about, to many.
FAIL!
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