Equipment Shortages Snarling U.S. Supply Chains

As originally published in The Wallstreet Journal

The shipping capacity squeeze is moving from the water to land, warns The Wall Street Journal. Logistics executives say sea containers and the steel trailers needed to ferry goods on trucks are in short supply, as efforts to cope with steep inventory imbalances send new backups rippling across supply chains.

Logistics executives say sea containers and the steel trailers needed to ferry goods on trucks are being tied up for weeks at a time while companies store goods on the equipment because warehouses are brimming to capacity.

It’s the latest sign of how ad hoc tactics aimed at solving short-term problems raise disruptions elsewhere in distribution channels. In this case, logistics companies say they’re waiting longer periods for empty sea containers and truck chassis, complicating efforts to keep imports flowing and hampering outbound business.

One chassis provider says its equipment is tied up about three times longer than the trailers were out before the pandemic.