Tens of billions of dollars in trade are either stuck at sea in the United States or Europe because of congestion at the ports.
As of July 13, 180,000 TEUs were stacked on vessels off the West Coast and 460,000 were loaded on vessels waiting off the East Coast.
Supply chain inflation is an important part of the picture.
The nominal value of goods moved in container, measured at the global level, has grown over the course of the last two years. The main cause of the increase estimated in the last two years is the increase in freight rates.
It is estimated that the total value of trade stuck on the water is around $30 billion.
Fears of a rail worker strike are growing as the Railway Labor Act's cooling off period ends on Monday. The railroad unions have the right to strike if the contract isn't renewed by the end of the year.
In a letter addressed to President Biden last week, a coalition of U.S. importers urged him to establish a Presidential Emergency Board.
The standard process that has been used in the past when considering a PEB has been used by the administration.
In 1992 a rail strike cost the US economy $50 million per day.
According to the National Railway Labor Conference, the impasse has left trains dangerously understaffed and has offered a counter that includes retroactive compensation.
There are a lot of containers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach reported the same number of rail containers that had been waiting nine days or longer. More than half of all containers are destined for the rail.
The total value of trade inside those containers is believed to be over 1.5 billion dollars.
Noel Hacegaba is the deputy executive director of administration and operations at the Port of Long Beach. The boxes need to be moved to create more capacity.
The port's land capacity is hampered by these long dwelling containers. The land capacity at the Port of Los Angeles is close to full. The ideal goal is 70%. The increase in container volumes is taking longer to process.
Wage negotiations between the German labor union and port employers reached an impasse and resulted in a 48 hour strike.
Sources say that a peace obligation may mean no more strikes until August 24. Sources say there is an assumption that there will be no strikes at the other locations during this time.
The CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map shows that trade is no longer fluid.
According to Alex Charvalias, lead of supply chain in-transit visibility at MarineTraffic, a worsening situation in Hamburg with close to 200,000 TEUs waiting for a berth indicates that waiting times will increase in the coming weeks.
The availability of empty containers will have an impact on trade delivery.
Braun said that containers aren't easy to find at the inland depots. Shipping lines are not able to move empties back to Asia. The availability of empties in Asia will be worse because of this.
This is happening before the peak season on the Far East trade route begins.
Importers in Europe have to wait a long time for Christmas orders. European trade is being delayed for the US.
Logistics managers are looking at the rate of canceled or blanked sailings because of the growing port congestion in Europe and the United States. Sailings are usually canceled in order to make up time. Lack of demand is one of the reasons. Because of the high volumes of containers moving out of China, there were more canceled sailings.
The reliability of the ocean carrier schedule is around 34%.
The availability of vessel space is limited due to canceled sailings. Spot prices are lower than long-term contract rates for the first time in a long time.
The CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map shows that vessel availability is not a problem.
If ocean carriers decide to leave certain U.S. ports out, that could change in August.
If this happens, the managers would be surprised.
As congestion grows on the East Coast, ports can be omitted.
The Freightos Baltic Dry Index is one of the data providers of the CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map.
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