By this point in the year 2021, the bottlenecked and congested ports, backed up rail lines, and pinched trucking capacities are nothing new, and most of us have adapted and gotten used to longer lead times, delays, and skyrocketing costs. After emerging into the post-pandemic world, there was hope that these logistical nightmares would begin to ease as time went by, but it now looks likely these issues will persist well into 2022.
And you might be wondering if it’s just your imagination, but is shipping actually getting worse? You’re not imagining it. The spread of the Delta variant has closed down ports across the world, including a partial closure of the world’s third busiest container port in China. Ongoing container shortages have made it increasingly difficult to book ocean freight from the far east, leading to product shortages on the U.S. side as inventories dry up before new containers come in.
While port shutdowns only happen for a matter of days, the bottleneck can take months to recover from and the congestion spills over into neighboring ports. Many ports still report feeling the effects of the Suez Canal blockage from back in March. And now the scramble to restock low inventory is going to especially hurt as demand ramps up heading into the holiday season. If fact, shippers are currently reporting a record-breaking volume.
Congestion on the seas has spilled over into ground and air transportation also as air freight reports increases due to companies searching for alternative ways to move their goods. The ripple effect from the slammed ports has led to road and rail running at maximum capacity all summer while dealing with a shortage of truck drivers and labor. And we have yet to hit October, which typically marks the peak of shipping season. Right now it would be wise to brace yourself and prepare for even longer delays and shortages for the remainder of 2021, and look toward the 2nd quarter of 2022 before any ease might come.