Our broken supply chain

[Honda]

Somebody might want to research what effect CARB is having on the inability to move stuff out of California.

[Honda]

Seams to me that this would come under the Transportation Sec. I have to wonder where Mr. Butt Plug is hiding . .

He's been on paid maternity leave. I hear he's struggling with learning breastfeeding.

[mgrist]

How are they going to partner up the rules on amount of drive time and rest time between loads that is allowed by the DOT. Seems like the overtime equation won't work with the latest allowed government regulations. I remember when the newest regs came out the truckers didn't like them a bit because of actual drive time allowed?

[Mike]

How are they going to partner up the rules on amount of drive time and rest time between loads that is allowed by the DOT.

Simple! Biden signs an executive order suspending DOT drive time rules for those truckers deemed essential for this crisis. He seems to enjoy signing executive orders so it shouldn't take long for him to figure it out.

[Phillbo]

Seams to me that this would come under the Transportation Sec. I have to wonder where Mr. Butt Plug is hiding . .

Who is Mr Butt Plug and how do you know this information?

[Mike]

Speaking of crane operators, the truck drivers are pointing their fingers:

LONG BEACH, California — Crane operators who belong to a powerful union and earn up to $250,000 a year transferring containers from ships to trucks are worsening the supply chain crisis that threatens Christmas by goofing off on the job, frustrated truckers told the Washington Examiner.

The finger-pointing at the busy Los Angeles County ports comes as scores of container ships are anchored off the California coast, waiting in some cases for weeks to unload their freight. The Biden administration has scrambled to get shipping executives, port officials, and labor to tackle the problem. While the reasons for the burgeoning backlog are complex, truck drivers say not everyone seems to be working together.


“In 15 years of doing this job, I’ve never seen them work slower,” said Antonio, who has spent hours waiting at Los Angeles County ports for cargo to be loaded. “The crane operators take their time, like three to four hours to get just one container. You can’t say anything to them, or they will just go [help] someone else.”

The Washington Examiner spoke to six truck drivers near the Long Beach/Terminal Island entry route, and each described crane operators as lazy, prone to long lunches, and quick to retaliate against complaints. The allegations were backed up by a labor consultant who has worked on the waterfront for 40 years. None of the truckers interviewed for this story wanted to provide a last name because they fear reprisals at the ports.

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[Honda]

I also believe that part of the problem is that people have used covid as an excuse to be lazy.

[Dave Grubb]

Speaking of crane operators, the truck drivers are pointing their fingers:

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I'm not a bit surprised about that---the Longshoremen's union has long been a contentious bunch and there have been a number of work slow downs in the past---but this is not a sole cause problem---this has tentacles into many places and all need to be dealt with.

[Honda]

Well good news today we can quit worrying about the supply chain problems. Our esteemed Secretary of transportation informs us today that it's all due to the successes of biden's economic agenda.

[Dave Grubb]

More to the broader influences on the supply chain "stretch":

From today's NYT:

Off the charts’
The economic dynamics behind rising inflation and the supply-chain problems are fairly straightforward: It’s a case of demand exceeding supply.

Not only do Americans have more money than they did in 2020 or 2019, but many also spent the past two years delaying some purchases. In recent months, they have started buying again, especially physical goods. Many services — like restaurant meals, movies and vacations — are still affected by Covid.

The surge in goods purchases has been remarkable: Inflation-adjusted retail spending across the U.S. has risen 14 percent over the past two years, according to Commerce Department data released Friday. That’s a larger increase than over the previous seven years combined. “Demand is off the charts,” as Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, said on CNN yesterday.

Americans aren’t the only ones buying more goods, either. In other countries, consumers also have pent-up demand, and governments have enacted large pandemic stimulus programs. This chart — based on data compiled by Jason Furman, a Harvard economics professor — shows the recent rise in consumer spending across high-income countries:

There are other reasons for the supply-chain problems and rising inflation. Covid precautions and pandemic disruptions at factories, warehouses and ports are also playing a role. “The world is nowhere near being fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and that means factories in, say, Vietnam are still having trouble keeping up with demand as workers keep getting sick,” The Washington Post’s Amber Phillips wrote.

But the cash glut is the primary reason for increasing demand. “There is a sudden and massive surge of demand that far outweighs the market’s capacity,” Craig Fuller, the chief executive of FreightWaves, a publication that covers logistics, wrote recently.

If anything, some observers have made the situation seem more complicated than it is, suggesting that the economy is suffering from a mysterious ailment, like 1970s-style “stagflation” (a mix of stagnation and inflation). “The use of ‘stagflation’ is wrong,” Olivier Blanchard, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, wrote last week. “We are not seeing anything like stagnation. What we are seeing instead is very strong growth, fueled by private and public demand, hitting supply constraints, and leading to some sharp price increases.”

[Blue74]

Going into a port to pick up a container you will need a TWIX (TWIC) card to enter the port. Speaking Spanish is not required but very helpful. If they would just go back to the old rules for sleeper berth would help. Once your day starts you cannot stop the clock without a minimum 8 hours in the sleeper berth. Used to be you could split it, the best was 5 and 5. Pull in, get in a dock and then go into the sleeper berth for 5 hours and then take off.

Way too much of the drivers time is spent setting waiting to load or unload, not driving. And a lot of that is free.

FYI Drive 11 hours, work 14 hours, sleeper berth 10 hours. Once you park the tractor you can work as long as you want to BUT you have to do the 10 hours sleeper berth before you go back to driving. I never ran local/regional and they have different rules.