The Global Shipping Freeze.....long read but imo, worth it.

[haywire 440]

This is an exercise on practicing the Boy Scout oath. Be Prepared, etc.
The rainy days are here, for the moment and I believe I’m ready. I believe in myself.
This continued mayhem , “weather” planned or not is another attack on Labor Unions on a lot of fronts.

 

[Ironbuilt]

Look outView attachment 1180469

 

[Ironbuilt]

By personal observation, I can say both railroad traffic and tractor trailer traffic is higher than I have seen in years. I've been in the Savannah area for 11+ years.

https://gaports.com/press-releases/port-of-savannah-moves-5m-teus/


https://gaports.com/press-releases/10-consecutive-months-of-positive-year-over-year-growth-in-savannah/

Actually, truck traffic is way down. My basis for this observation is the availability of parking at the major truck stops. Where as before the scam-demic, you had to be in the truck stop by 6pm or you weren't finding free parking. Now, I see empty spots at the major truck stops at 10pm and some are still empty when I wake up in the morning. If I had to guess, I'd say truck traffic is down 25-30%.
Add that to the loads on the load boards that brokers can't move. Just this week, I passed over a 510 mile load paying $2,600 because I thought it didn't pay enough. That was around 9am. 4pm that same afternoon the broker raised the rate to $3,000 because there wasn't anyone to haul it. I see that everyday.

 

[Runcharger]

Pretty simple solution if you ask me. I don't need anything from another continent period. Grow our own food, produce our own goods from our own raw materials. Done.

 

[DeltaV]

Actually, truck traffic is way down. My basis for this observation is the availability of parking at the major truck stops. Where as before the scam-demic, you had to be in the truck stop by 6pm or you weren't finding free parking. Now, I see empty spots at the major truck stops at 10pm and some are still empty when I wake up in the morning. If I had to guess, I'd say truck traffic is down 25-30%.
Add that to the loads on the load boards that brokers can't move. Just this week, I passed over a 510 mile load paying $2,600 because I thought it didn't pay enough. That was around 9am. 4pm that same afternoon the broker raised the rate to $3,000 because there wasn't anyone to haul it. I see that everyday.

My world on the road is normally within a 30 mile radius of home.

 

[Ironbuilt]

Pretty simple solution if you ask me. I don't need anything from another continent period. Grow our own food, produce our own goods from our own raw materials. Done.

But, then who is going to line the pockets of the corrupt?

 

[Ironbuilt]

My world on the road is normally within a 30 mile radius of home.

I have been to the port in Savannah a few times in the last few weeks, and as always, it was a busy zoo. That is one of the places in the country that I never have trouble finding freight.
Sleeping at the local truck stops in Savannah? You're taking your life in your hands!!

 

[Richard Cranium]

Is this even possible to discuss without getting political?

Blame the OP. He’s a board lord and me thinks he is setting a trap for unsuspecting members.

 

[Ironbuilt]

He’s a board lord

 

[69a100]

With what's happened this past year, and what I only see on the horizon! This is needed now more than ever!!!!

 

[toolmanmike]

Pretty simple solution if you ask me. I don't need anything from another continent period. Grow our own food, produce our own goods from our own raw materials. Done.

But it all comes down to economics. John Deere is on strike here. Not because the employees are being mistreated, more because JD has been making billions per quarter and the employees want a bigger slice of the pie. I don't blame them and I wouldn't expect cooperate to break even. But like most things now days. there are upper and lower limits and nothing in between. A lot of our products here are produced elsewhere because of cheap labor, no unions, and no EPA and government regulations. We have done it to ourselves.

 

[Ironbuilt]

But it all comes down to economics. John Deere is on strike here. Not because the employees are being mistreated, more because JD has been making billions per quarter and the employees want a bigger slice of the pie. I don't blame them and I wouldn't expect cooperate to break even. But like most things now days. there are upper and lower limits and nothing in between. A lot of our products here are produced elsewhere because of cheap labor, no unions, and no EPA and government regulations. We have done it to ourselves.

Surprised they aren't striking over all of the John Deere tractors that are made in Brazil. I would load them in the port of Baltimore and they would say Made in the USA, yet came right off the ship from Brazil.

 

[Cranky]

My world on the road is normally within a 30 mile radius of home.

These days I'm staying closer to home than that!!

Blame the OP. He’s a board lord and me thinks he is setting a trap for unsuspecting members.

Bow down on yer hands and knees you underling!! I'm surprised this thread has been pretty clean actually but it tells me that so many do have control of themselves! lol

 

[Ironbuilt]

Bow down on yer hands and knees you underling!!

 

[haywire 440]

Ahhh the good ol’ days.

 

[Hey-O]

The US has a surplus of food every year. It exports more food than it imports, and millions of tons simply go to waste. The US has 43% of all the farmable crop land on earth. It is also the best farmland on earth being centered on the 35th parallel dead center of the temperate zone. This makes US Crop production so high you cannot imagine it. It also gives the US about 85% of all world food production. So in short, not only can we produce enough domestically, it does and it produces for very nearly every other nation on earth. It gives the US a virtual monopoly on food production. No other nation is so well situated for food production on earth. If we have a famine the whole world trembles. I'm not growing a damn thing. It's buying my next TV or any electronics for that matter that should worry you. We don't even make pencil sharpeners. Lord knows where my underwear is made!!!!

 

[Cranky]

The US has a surplus of food every year. It exports more food than it imports, and millions of tons simply go to waste. The US has 43% of all the farmable crop land on earth. It is also the best farmland on earth being centered on the 35th parallel dead center of the temperate zone. This makes US Crop production so high you cannot imagine it. It also gives the US about 85% of all world food production. So in short, not only can we produce enough domestically, it does and it produces for very nearly every other nation on earth. It gives the US a virtual monopoly on food production. No other nation is so well situated for food production on earth. If we have a famine the whole world trembles. I'm not growing a damn thing. It's buying my next TV or any electronics for that matter that should worry you. We don't even make pencil sharpeners. Lord knows where my underwear is made!!!!

I gave up trying to grow my own because the weather here in SE Texas can be somewhat brutal for gardens. This year we had LOTS of rain in the beginning of the year (after we froze to death) and then got dry as bone. Some years it was dry to the point where I had to water every day and trying to grow anything using city water makes things taste.....well, bland plus it ain't cheap. Once you're 65 here, the water bill gets a great discount but my back won't let me do that kind of stuff anymore.

 

[rolling_Thunder]

Well... I currently work at the Port of Los Angeles / Long Beach... the problems are not a singular issue but a combination of many small problems.... as I see them....

1. The ILWU... the typical casual longshoreman is hard working and reliable... once they get full time they become protected and become lazy. Probably one of the biggest singular contributors to this issue is the ILWU pricing themselves out of a job - usually a longshoreman is either on his 2 hour break or his 3 hour lunch... nevermind the high percentage of criminals who work at the port...

2. Lack of automation... somewhat connects with problem #1 - the LBCT terminal is fully automated and had the fastest turn around time currently compared to others... why? No reliance on the ILWU... MAERSK and TRA PAC are moving to automation as well... the current issue will only expedite their decisions.

3. CA regulations... trucks have to be within 10 years and by 2035 the entire fleet will need to be completely electric. This hurts all the independant cab owners who will effectively not be able to continue working in the state of CA because of the overbearing regulations.

4. Lack of chassis availability... The chassis are being utilized at a hightened pace and the "yard chassis" are simply not available... truckers waits hours at the port for a chassis which backs up deliveries and congests the ports.

5. Empty containers... are taking up valuable space on the yards awaiting ships to come and unload to take the containers back to Asia. The backup of ships causes these empties to become a cluttering problem and take up usable space at the port.

6. Political... obviously this wasn't a huge problem during the last administration... everyone can see that political interference can have a drastic change on this problem - as others have said when you get paid to sit on your *** - many people choose not to work... simple as that. Stop coddling people and when they become in danger of losing home, food, etc with no safety net - you can bet they will be showing up to work

 

[Ironbuilt]

Well... I currently work at the Port of Los Angeles / Long Beach... the problems are not a singular issue but a combination of many small problems.... as I see them....

1. The ILWU... the typical casual longshoreman is hard working and reliable... once they get full time they become protected and become lazy. Probably one of the biggest singular contributors to this issue is the ILWU pricing themselves out of a job - usually a longshoreman is either on his 2 hour break or his 3 hour lunch... nevermind the high percentage of criminals who work at the port...

2. Lack of automation... somewhat connects with problem #1 - the LBCT terminal is fully automated and had the fastest turn around time currently compared to others... why? No reliance on the ILWU... MAERSK and TRA PAC are moving to automation as well... the current issue will only expedite their decisions.

3. CA regulations... trucks have to be within 10 years and by 2035 the entire fleet will need to be completely electric. This hurts all the independant cab owners who will effectively not be able to continue working in the state of CA because of the overbearing regulations.

4. Lack of chassis availability... The chassis are being utilized at a hightened pace and the "yard chassis" are simply not available... truckers waits hours at the port for a chassis which backs up deliveries and congests the ports.

5. Empty containers... are taking up valuable space on the yards awaiting ships to come and unload to take the containers back to Asia. The backup of ships causes these empties to become a cluttering problem and take up usable space at the port.

6. Political... obviously this wasn't a huge problem during the last administration... everyone can see that political interference can have a drastic change on this problem - as others have said when you get paid to sit on your *** - many people choose not to work... simple as that. Stop coddling people and when they become in danger of losing home, food, etc with no safety net - you can bet they will be showing up to work

Very well said, Sir. As an Owner/Operator, I am in the ports on a regular basis. I spent 2 straight weeks hauling oversize loads out of the Port of Philthydelphia. Same problems there as you just described in L.A.
My truck is a 2019, so I can and have gone to Ca., but prefer not to. The full electric mandate by 2035 will never happen, so they will either rescind the order or plunge Ca. into the stone ages. Most O/O I talk to won't go to Ca. anymore either.

 

[wahya]

So the unions just started this year?