Community Chat

[KingstonsMom]

A satellite image has captured more than 60 container ships that are stuck waiting to dock outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as a massive supply chain crunch hits the United States.

The extraordinary sight of vessels unable to berth is due in part because of a massive backlog that has been caused by a sudden surge in American buying ahead of the holiday season. 

The number of ships that are currently anchored outside the major ports, which moves 40 percent of containers in the United States, has tripled over the course of the past two months to 62. Lines are now at their longest since the start of the pandemic. 

The backup at the country's busiest port complex has been brought on by a pandemic-induced buying boom, coupled with a labor shortage that has overwhelmed the port workforce, according to port officials say. 

The shipping traffic jams come as the U.S. and some other economies are beginning to head towards normalcy and shows how messy the reopening of business is proving to be more than 18 months since the pandemic’s onset. It also shows just how fragile supply chains remain.

The 62 container ships waiting to dock include 42 container ships physically at anchor and 20 in drift areas, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which tracks ship traffic in the area. 

The West Coast ports have faced traffic since August, when a then record-breaking 44 container ships were stuck off the coast due to similar disruptions.  

The traffic-jam at the ports, which serves as the main entry point for goods coming from China, has even directly impacted the prices for artificial Christmas trees.

The port of Long Beach is now testing out a 24/7 pilot program that would expand the hours for cargo pickup to a time when there is less traffic in the region, allowing for speedier deliveries. 

'We are in the midst of an historic surge in cargo, and our terminal operators and other supply chain partners are giving their all to keep it all moving,' Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero said in a statement 'We welcome this pilot project by TTI as a first step toward extending gates to 24/7 operations, and we encourage our cargo owners and trucking partners to give this innovative program a try.'  

Satellite image shows more than 60 container ships wait to dock as log jam hits Port of LA | Daily M...

[debmmm]

QVC should quit selling items until they have them.  I work in the freight industry and know about all the delays.   I am tired of ordering advanced shipment items and they are either delayed further or you never get the item.  I am done with QVC and the high prices. 

[millieshops]

@KingstonsMom Although the reason for the problem is different, thinking about the possible shortages we will likely see ahead reminds me of something I heard years ago from a Russian housewife.  "Even if I had money to buy food, there was no food to buy."  She was contrasting Moscow 1991 to the USA in late 1990.

I may be naive but I am not thinking I will see things that bad, but I do believe I will have much less choice and pay much more.   

[SilleeMee]

Very discouraging. A few weeks ago I saw a pic about that problem and at the time it was only less than 50 ships, still a record-breaking number according to the article. I posted that pic. Then I heard the number jumped to 100 ships a week or so after that. So hopefully the numbers are coming down now.

[Major Shopper]

Just last week I placed 4 orders with Kohl's. Within 3 days, 3 of the four orders arrived at my door! The fourth is scheduled to arrive today. 

I also ordered from JTV and order arrived within the week!

Ordered from QVC last week and not scheduled to arrive until next week. 

As you can tell, I shop online alot and QVC has the longest ship times! Just saying...

[vaberry]

to me it's kind of a expected results- for a year the factories were shut down. They opened and ramped up production to fill orders and back orders. Now all the stuff that normally comes in over several months hits at one time. It would be nice to expect everything to be normal and just like before instantly, but not very real.

I get why the advance orders and how the dates are being changed. Sometimes you have to roll. I'm not being charged for the item until it ships so I'm good. 

I have a few advance orders, but only 1 shows a date of what I will call a hope to ship date. Where are the hope to ship dates everyone is saying are being changed? I appearly am missing? I've never had an order canceled so how would I know it was canceled not waiting to be shipped/ still in advance order status?

[CAcableGirl2]

After reading about the delay in shipping that is everywhere on the news, I heard on several occasions in the last couple of days David V state on many items, that they would be shipping "immediately" like the tray table vido shows.  "It's going to go out tonight", just slap a label and it goes on the truck.

https://www.qvc.com/Home-Reflections-Collapsible-Accent-Tray-Table.product.H228933.html?sc=IROA

I wonder if that is true for certain items or the items will be "in processing" for days like my current orders.  It would be nice if it's true.

I had an item delivered in 4 days this week from the day of order to the day it was delivered, and then another item that is processing now for 6 days that hasn't shipped. 

Wouldn't it be nice for the item to show which warehouse its coming from on the order age, and an accurate estimated ship date?  I understand the shipping can vary by UPS or the post office, but it would be helpful if we could know when an items will be leaving the QVC warehouse when we place the order.

[jackthebear]

still does not justify why it takes over a week to get things from the warehouse that are in stock 

[Meowingkitty]

I ordered from Nordstrom Rack and it was here in under 5 days, same with Kohls. Of all the things I've ordered lately the one that took the longest was my Chewy order and it came from Florida to Arizona by the southern scenic route. It made 6 stops before I got it. Why it came from Florida I don't know as there is a warehouse 20 miles from me.  I also read that FedEx is having to reroute 600,000 packages a day to other distribution centers due to lack of workers.

[ScrapHappy]

Stores like Target, Walmart and Home Depot have gotten their own ships, smaller ones, that can get into smaller ports so they don't have to go to the Long Beach one.