COVID-19 has had a big impact on the world, most recently causing supply shortages and shipping delays all across the globe. There are many reasons to be concerned.

One of the main reasons shipments are delayed is that the containers are way larger than they were years ago. The larger the crates, the more people and time it takes to unpack them. According to Fast Company, 90% of their goods are traded overseas, 60% of that is fruit and electronics from different countries. Some goods are not available in stores due to this. Since there are shortages of some products, this is causing costs to go up for certain products that are stuck in the ports. 

The reason there are still containers stuck is that there is a shortage of truck drivers across the United States. Companies are even offering big pay and bonuses for new drivers, but there still seems to be a shortage. Ever since the pandemic began, online ordering has received a lot of attention, this sent a demand for truck drivers to go up even more. 

Many people are concerned about the holidays. According to AP News, some stores are stating that the products they ordered in July still haven’t arrived after long waits. Chances are that the delays will continue during the holidays. 

There are still around 200,000 containers stuck in the ports of California. Weforum claims that if this situation continues, it can impact the economy in negative ways. 

Sources:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90678954/the-14-trillion-reason-you-should-care-about-the-shipping-container-shortage

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/10/global-shortagof-shipping-containers/

https://www.businessinsider.com/shipping-containers-stuck-california-ports-combat-shortages-2021-9