A traffic jam in a snowstorm — that’s how people describe the scene at West Coast ports, where cargo ships are stacking up. This shipping bottleneck could have ripple effects across the U.S.
NPR REPORTER SCOTT HORSLEY: And like cars on a crowded freeway, all that stuff is moving more slowly. Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, says unloading a cargo vessel right now might take twice as long as usual, and getting the cargo to its destination might take longer still.
GENE SEROKA: Truckers, dock workers, warehouse workers alike are all in demand. And everything is tight.
HORSLEY: At the Port of LA, Seroka has tried to triage the most time-sensitive shipments, taking care that toys, for example, were unloaded before Christmas. He’s asked California’s governor to set similar priorities and move dockworkers near the front of the line for COVID vaccinations.
SEROKA: It’s important to prioritize the longshore workers and other waterfront folks who have worked every day through this pandemic, bringing goods out to every one of our 435 congressional districts.
HORSLEY: The cargo traffic jam is expected to continue well into 2021, although shippers may get a breather next month around the Lunar New Year, when Asian factories temporarily shut down. For now, the U.S. is not sending very much cargo back to Asia. More than two-thirds of the cargo containers that left LA in November for the return trip across the Pacific were empty.