This is rather interesting. A follow up from yesterday’s post.
The Port of Houston, a critical piece of infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, issued a statement Thursday saying it had successfully defended against an attempted hack in August and “no operational data or systems were impacted.”
Full article, HERE.
More and more ships are making the transit of the Panama Canal and coming around to Houston to unload because it is cheaper than sitting and waiting for a west coast port to free up…
Port Houston is positioning itself as a viable option for handling more containerized imports from Asia, thanks to congestion woes for importers on the West and East coasts.
Full article, HERE.
And another article from 2 weeks ago. Bold/italic mine.
Global supply chain woes stemming from the pandemic continue to drag on, creating chaos in international markets. Many companies anticipate the issue will extend into next year. UPS, for instance, recently encouraged consumers to order Christmas presents now. Kroger and Toyota have also voiced concerns, as well as Walmart.
But it’s not all bad news for Houston, the country’s largest export market. In fact, container traffic at the Port of Houston is on track to set a record this year.
Full article, HERE.
And there are rumors that the Feds tried to ‘take over’ the Port by declaring it Federal property. I don’t see THAT ending well in Texas right now.
Could you be implying that the Feds are behind the shipping slow down? 😎
With this Administration it wouldn’t be a real suprise. They do want to destroy the economy.
They don’t want to destroy the economy, they want to own it.
Yeah, but if they can’t own it, they want to destroy it.
There’s no rational reason for ships to just be parked offshore waiting….for WEEKS…other than as a willful action intended to harm the economy.
Part of the blame can be laid squarely on the feet of the Unions, which are, of course, part of the Democrat Attack Machine.
And, yes, new fed regs and regulatory commissions have affected container ports since February. Because nothing says crisis like a manufactured crisis.
Once again, a loss for the West Coast is a gain for Texas.
Might there also be a bit of worker slow down going on to either get overtime money or raises?
Yes. The dockworker unions and associated unions have refused to go on a 24 hour clock.
But, of course, who controls the unions? Hmmmm…
Long Beach/ LA is notorious for union slowdowns and demands for money. That union has been trying to get control of other West Coast ports and has had court orders against them for it.
While I’ve heard of a national port troubles, the only details or examples I’ve seen have been in California, which has been losing business for years to East and gulf coast ports.
If it takes two extra months to get to Houston, but you KNOW you’re going to be stuck waiting on the West Coast for a minimum of three or more (probably more)… yeah, they’re gonna route to Houston.
Supply and demand, writ large?
I wonder when the ChiComs will try and buy the ports of Houston, New Orleans and Mobile. Didn’t they invest in the California ports?
They bought the Port of Long Beach, but were forced to sell it.
West coast longshoremen are a big part of the problem. The ports only run two shifts.
They make $100K+ per year.
Another problem is the cost of California. Even well paid truck drivers can’t afford a decent living, so they are short of drivers. This overloads the rail lines, which in turn overloads the rail yards in distribution center cities like Chicago.
The Chinese are shipping back empty containers to try to get products sold, but this is creating a shortage for farmers who would ordinarily ship produce to China in them. China has had a horrible harvest this year due to floods, and some may starve this winter. Oh well, they don’t care about the peasants anyway.
John in Indy
They’ve had issues for a while regarding food in China. Anyone who gets a little bit of money buys foreign, because China’s industrial and agricultural incompetence have resulted in seriously polluted farmlands. Nobody buys domestic foodstuffs there.
As a result, China’s been buying up a ton of produce from New Zealand as well as other places abroad. Also explains their push into Africa.
I was wondering about this for some time. There wasn’t any negative news coming in from the Gulf, and with the cruise industry almost shut down due to covid, why not use their ports to unload some of the smaller ships? Of course, as usual, the shipping companies forgot to ask me what they should do… much to their loss.
Different type of ship – cruise ports are usually optimized for passengers, not cargo and definitely not containers.
Remember boys and girls; China runs the Panama Canal.
Yep. They sure do. And there are Panamanians whose families have always worked at the Canal who have lost jobs to the ChiComs.
Betcha Panama is regretting that move.
But Panama is like France. Good people, feckless leaders.
There was a cruise ship docked at Astoria, Oregon for 6 months, or longer, but it sailed away last month.
All- Thanks for the comments, and yes, good points. Unions have been, and will continue to be a ‘thorn’ in the west coast port’s sides. And yes, they are pricing themselves out of the market.
Houston. Where 17 railroads meet the sea.
I’ve always enjoyed Houston, oddly. Will it be so fun under CCP rule? I guess we’re about to find out.
No wonder I-10 westbound from Seguin to San Antonio (for work) is so crowded.
I10 at Tucson is very heavy with semi tractor / trailer traffic.
Both directions.
Besides the problem with union dock workers, there is also the problem with California’s CARB idiocy. THey don’t like diesel, so have worked hard to eliminate them from CA roads. Non CA compliant trucks are not allowed to drive into the state to pick up loads, not even partway to transship a load. Apparently lots of drivers won’t go into the state at all, some of it due to covid bull. Various cities around the US are also being blacklisted by drivers and shippers due to “defund the cops” idiocy, which adds to the shipping and stocking problems of business and consumers.
For a long time, San Jose CA has not allowed big rig parking at all. For that matter, I don’t think there is a truck stop anywhere in the Bay Area. Probably a 1 to 2 hour drive to reach one. Think that sort of idiocy doesn’t impact store stocks and prices? The price of fuels is so high in CA that it is worth it to truckers to carry as much as they can fit before crossing the border. Instead of two tanks, they tend to fill the space between the front and rear axles with multiple tanks. That has it’s own problems, though.
An ongoing problem is that whatever CA is doing anywhere, you can bet it is doing it wrong.