Most people may not be thinking much about the Christmas holidays right now, but for those who want to be absolutely sure of receiving the gifts they buy on time, the time to start shopping and ordering is fast approaching. .
This is because there is a backlog of container ships stuck off the east and west coasts of the US.
At a mall in Elizabeth, NJ, casual shoppers in September start to get nervous about Christmas shopping in December. That’s because right down the road at the shipping terminal is one of those container ship jams. A map shows the boats that are waiting while they are anchored off the coast of Long Island, something very out of the ordinary.
“It is quite unusual to have ships anchored in New York. We only have 7 as of this morning, “said John Nardi, spokesman for the New York Shipping Association, representing the terminal operators that unload merchandise.
Nardi said the reasons for the accumulation of container ships are many. First of all, there is record demand in the US for hard goods, which means more ships to start with. Then there is a shortage of truck drivers and warehouse space to accept and transport the imports when they reach shore.
“They don’t have people to work in the warehouses,” Nardi said, but he couldn’t explain why with certainty that was the case, although he has some ideas. “There has been a lot of free money and we need people to work and move the load.”
There are concerns that long delays in shipping products to terminals could have a ripple effect, delaying products reaching store shelves before the Christmas holidays.
The cargo jam outside of New York and New Jersey is concerning, but it is not as bad as the West Coast, where more than 70 ships wait to reach Los Angeles and Long Beach. But Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Maritime, said that what has been happening for months in the Pacific is already affecting the Atlantic.
“The problem in California is why is now starting to see a problem in New York and New Jersey,” Jensen said. “Because importers are figuring out: what’s the point of shipping my stuff to the west coast if it just gets stuck in a never-ending queue.”
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey released a statement Tuesday downplaying the notion that there is something significant going on at the port, saying there is no shortage of manpower. The agency also said they expect to have all seven Long Island ships docked in the next two days.
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