The impact of the Shanghai epidemic outbreak on the United States: West Coast port congestion worsens!

It is learned that recently, Spencer Shute, senior consultant of Proxima, a global procurement and supply chain consulting firm, said that the blockade of the epidemic in Shanghai, China has lasted for some time, but its impact on US ports has just begun.

According to Spencer Shute, the impact of the Shanghai blockade on downstream ports in the United States is taking shape, and the impact on ports is even more serious than during the large-scale outbreak of the epidemic.

Here are some insights from Spencer Shute on the impact of the Shanghai outbreak on U.S. ports:

• All ports will be impacted to some extent, but ports on the West Coast will be the most affected. Many shippers will try to deliver their cargo to the East Coast because of the bottleneck at the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach. Since air freight options from Shanghai are limited throughout the lockdown, all air freight ports will be overwhelmed by the increased cargo volume, further causing a large backlog of cargo.

• The Shanghai lockdown will cause a shutdown across industries, affecting shipments of many goods, including everything from manufactured goods in transit to final assembly to fully manufactured goods such as electronics, cars, furniture, pharmaceuticals and textiles.

• Over the past two years, American consumers have experienced delays in the delivery of goods. The blockade in Shanghai will cause another delay in the delivery of goods in the early summer and autumn of this year. The reason is that the production capacity of Shanghai's manufacturing and transportation industries was greatly reduced last month, resulting in insufficient product supply and a decrease in goods shipped to the United States. Once the production capacity is increased, the port will face overload operation, causing a huge bottleneck for American ports.

• The labor contracts of about 15,000 dock workers on the West Coast of the United States will expire on July 1, 2022. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) will enter into new negotiations with shipping terminals, which may lead to a strike of union workers for several months, further aggravating congestion at West Coast ports.

Editor ✎ Nicole/

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