Labor shortage, rail freight congestion! U.S. supply chain problems further deteriorate!

It is learned that according to foreign media reports, the American Trucking Association (ATA) recently pointed out that there is serious congestion in US rail freight this year and supply chain problems will intensify.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said the main drivers of rail freight congestion are online shopping (up 20.6% year-over-year), single-family housing starts (+23.2%) and manufacturing output (+7.6%).

According to ATA research, the number of truck delivery workers has grown from 555,000 in 2017 to nearly 1 million in 2021, but there is still a shortage of drivers and the company still cannot meet the shopping needs of American consumers and the delivery scale required by e-commerce.

In addition, according to statistics from shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd, the average container detention time at 11 major rail yards in the United States this month reached 9.8 days. This is much higher than 6.7 days in May and 5.9 days in February. Congestion is also increasing in Los Angeles, Charleston, South Carolina, and Detroit, where congestion is the most serious.

It is learned that in addition to the shortage of truck drivers and container backlogs, port congestion and the inability to unload goods in a timely manner have further exacerbated the US supply chain problems.

Editor ✎ Nicole/

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