Container Shipping Supply Chain Faces The Deepest Crisis Ever As Massive Disruptions Emerge

The container shipping supply chain remains in the deepest crisis it has ever seen. As the massive backlog of containerships stuck outside Chinese ports is cleared to start sailing again, disruptions are rippling globally, and industry executives are warning that it will take several months to unwind the catastrophic logjam that is now forming. US ports are already scrambling with record volumes of cargo, a shortage of manpower, and truck drivers to deliver the goods across the nation. So if you find empty shelves again in the coming weeks – don’t be surprised. They're making a comeback (with a vengeance). In fact, we’re also being told to expect a fresh round of price hikes all across the board – from food to consumer goods to energy. And those new increases will not only impact people’s monthly budgets, but they’re also threatening to leave over 20 million Americans without power and basic supplies over the next couple of weeks.
Authorities of the port of Shanghai, which has been running at about half of its capacity for a month due to a citywide lockdown, have announced that operations will be resumed this week. But congestion has already increased by 40% at the key exporting hub. Right now, it is taking an average of 111 days for goods to reach a warehouse in the U.S. from the moment they’re ready to leave an Asian factory, nearing the record of 113 set in January, and more than double the trip in 2019, according to freight forwarder Flexport.
And while US ports are getting crowded with imports once again, supermarket and grocery shelves are becoming increasingly emptier. According to Datasembly, a research firm that tracks grocery and retail pricing, roughly 30% of grocery products are out of stock, marking an 11% increase from November 2021 levels. In some states, out-of-stock rates are even higher. In Connecticut, Delaware, Montana, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington, they surpassed 40%. Compounding the challenge for Americans, consumers are also spending more money on many of the same goods they're used to buying. To make things worse, as the global energy supply chain breakdown accelerates, skyrocketing prices for gas and diesel, coupled with labor shortages in the trucking industry, are also exacerbating supply-chain headaches that will only serve to increase food costs for Americans.
That means trouble for more than 20 million families in the United States. All across the country, many households are drowning in utility debt. Now, these households are about to face widespread power shutoffs. Advocates say that when a family is shut off from power, they cut back on food, medicine, and other essentials in order to get reconnected as quickly as possible. In many cases, they completely lose access to everyday goods and fall into a debt spiral.
All of these price hikes are eroding our purchasing power and leaving us with absurd energy and grocery bills. As port congestion intensifies and global supply chain problems compound, the simultaneous breakdown of our food and energy systems is likely to bring a lot more pain for American families in the near-term, and spark long-lasting damages that will stay with us for decades. 

For more info, find us on: https://www.epiceconomist.com/