For those still wondering about supply chain issues, there are of course long-term questions, such as shortening those chains and whether or not the government needs to take action, or if the companies have taken sufficient warning from getting their fingers singed during the pandemic.
And then there’s the short-term question: is it fixed yet?
Here’s gCaptain with some evidence:
The number of container ships headed for the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — a traffic jam that once symbolized American consumer vigor during the pandemic — declined to the lowest level since the bottleneck started to build two years ago.
Eight vessels were in the official queue as of late Monday, according to data from the Marine Exchange of Southern California & Vessel Traffic Service Los Angeles and Long Beach. That’s an all-time low, officials said in a statement, down from a record of 109 set in January and about 40 lined up a year ago. …
Though officials changed the way inbound ships queued in November 2021 — having them slow-steam across the Pacific rather than bunching them at anchor near the ports — the dwindling count reflects a slowdown in consumer demand, ample inventories built up by American companies, and ships rerouting through Gulf of Mexico and East Coast ports.
I suspect slow-steam will generate a little less pollution and lower fuel consumption, but probably not to any great extent.
And it distorts any claim that supply issues are fixed, at best. There’s been progress, but it’s not fixed in my mind.
