Helping or Hurtin LA?: Retailers warn holiday shoppers of 'unique challenges' amid supply chain crisis and say to buy NOW - as cargo shipper

Numerous chains are urging shoppers to check items off their Christmas shopping lists early
The warnings come as the nation's largest ports struggle with a historic backup
Some items - including Lego sets and furniture - are backordered into 2022
The slowdown is being exacerbated by an abundance of empty shipping containers that have been lingering at the ports for weeks
Starting Monday, LA and Long Beach port officials will start billing carriers that leave empty containers on the property for prolonged amounts of time
One shipping executive said the incoming fine system would be a 'catastrophe'


Retailers are imploring shoppers to get their Christmas orders in early as the nation grapples with historic congestion amid an unprecedented supply crisis.

And some shipping experts, including Mohawk Global Logistics executive Riche Roche, say the Los Angeles and Long Beach port plans to fine carriers for stranded empty containers at the dock could make things even worse.

‘As far as the ‘hyper-demurrage’ announced in Los Angeles/Long Beach, I think it will be catastrophic,’ Roche said during a National Shippers Advisory Council (NSAC) meeting Wednesday.


'Chassis are already in short supply and this will artificially suck out the rest of the containers that may be sitting in there that didn’t need to be on a chassis and now they’re going to be parked somewhere. It’s probably going to wipe out whatever’s left in terms of chassis,' he said, Freightwaves reported.

Meanwhile, Pottery Barn, Lands End, and L.L.Bean, are among some of the companies issuing shipping warnings to buyers, with less than two months to go before Christmas.

‘We’re facing some unique challenges this year,’ L.L.Bean said in a note to its customers posted online. ‘People have been getting outside in record numbers (and that’s great!), but high demand paired with extraordinary global events means we may not have some of the products you’re looking for right now.’

The warnings come as the LA and Long Beach ports – which move about 40 percent of shipped cargo entering the U.S. – struggle with an historic backlog that’s slowing the nation’s supply chain ahead of the holidays.



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Last Edited by Coastie Patriot on 10/28/2021 05:47 PM