The busted supply chain's poster child is the lineup of unloadable vessels at the port of Los Angeles. Half a million containers stuck in the ocean parking lot.
I've heard half-explanations: No room to return the empties because full containers plug the docks. Import demand is up because of Covid's extra government cash and more people with time on their hands. Round the clock shifts can't be organized. The 25 mile backlog of unloaded box cars in Chicago is blocking the flow.
But here's the kicker:
New California emission standards have made it illegal for half the trucks that normally service the port to even enter the state!!!! These rules kicked in just before Christmas last year. Only trucks 3 years old or less are currently qualifying. Loads from the port have to be re-loaded past the state line for the rest of the truck fleet to get to work. How come we don't hear about it? It makes the management of the great state of California look like idiots.
What do idiots do to fix the problem. More of the same shit that created the problem.
UPDATE: Heading to round-the-clock scheduling doesn't fix the supply chain unless every link between the port and the end user goes to the same schedule. Otherwise, the undelivered bottleneck just moves east one link.
UPDATE: Virtuous California legislators are focing truck owner operators to be classified as employees. That triggers costs and restrictions.
Both updates from this story at Red State. And here: Shutting down the Gig economy shuts out the owner operator independent truck drivers who like it that way.
UPDATES: $4000 USD is the median course cost to get credentialed as a truck driver in California.
UPDATES: Oct 23: The Long Beach port had a rule: Containers can only be stacked two high. For 90 days they are relaxing the rule to allow four high. The two-high rule was to avoid looking unsighly to the neighbors.
UPDATES: Nov 2 Here's what a trucker sees. Things will be getting worse before they get better.
No comments:
Post a Comment