Are American ports the root cause of global supply chain problems?

Congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has been a problem for months , and even though the holiday season is over , congestion at the largest port complex in the United States has not improved.

According to Port of Los Angeles officials, the port's yard utilization rate is 90%, which means most trucks and people cannot move around efficiently ; under normal circumstances, this number is considered ideal at 70% .

Kuehne + Nagel , a global transport and logistics company, has been keeping an eye on port congestion and has created its own congestion index to keep its clients informed. The index measures the cumulative waiting time for a 20-foot container against the vessel capacity at the port . For example, a 10,000 TEU container waiting for 12 days equals 120,000 TEUs.

According to this index , the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the main culprits for global supply chain congestion .

“ About 80% of global supply chain disruptions are caused by U.S. ports, ” said Otto Schacht, executive vice president of marine logistics at Kuehne+Nagel. “When you look at the data from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach , they are causing the majority of delays. Normally , the number of ships waiting at the ports is under 1 million TEUs. Right now, the number of ships waiting at these two ports is a staggering 12.07 million TEUs.”

Not only that, the congestion in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will affect the normal operation of other ports. For example, if the container ships affected by the congestion arrive at the port at the same time as other ships on the same schedule, it will cause congestion in other ports; if the containers that have been delivered to the port cannot be taken out in time, they will be left at the dock, which will also cause congestion. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are basically the biggest obstacles in the current supply chain system , and the whole world has been affected by the chain reaction caused by it .

There are many reasons for the congestion problems at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach , including a lack of skilled workers , inefficiencies at the ports, a shortage of truck drivers, congestion at terminals, distribution centers and warehouses, and restrictions by ocean carriers .