Shipping container Inflation! (700%)

[GJM]

WSJ’s take — a number of factors including government and employer vaccine mandates:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/where-d...on-11633725434

[Navin Johnson]

I was thinking the opposite. We have all these shipping containers here and nobody wants to take them back.

[Interjecting, it just occurred to me: Getting the containers back onto a ship to go back to China and get reloaded requires the ship to sit at the dock, when that ship could get out of the way and let another ship come in to get unloaded. So that may be part of what's driving the container shortage. I don't know this, I literally just made it up.]

So if we have a lot more of something than there's demand for, the price should go down. So this would in theory be a fantastic time to acquire a handful of shipping containers, if you were interested in doing so, for whatever purpose you might have for them. But you'd need to find someone to load them on a truck and bring them to you, which could be difficult, because all the people who are willing and able to do that are probably getting paid a lot to move containers that are full of goods to be sold.

Or maybe it's a strategy to get a lot of steel into the U.S. without paying tariffs on it directly. Are they getting recycled at steel mills?

We are importing way more than exporting. Containers cost as much empty or full to ship.

IDK if intentional or not but stuff is floating in harbors for weeks to get off loaded because the yards are out of room. No over road shipping available. Makes one wonder.....

[farscott]

The shortage of CDL drivers is real. My FIL is retired from Penske. He started as a driver and ended up in the office. He gets pinged weekly about returning to driving, and he is 72. I am not even sure he can pass a DOT physical, considering he has diabetes, had cataract surgery this year, and is 72.

[Borderland]

Maersk says

https://www.maersk.com/news/articles...date-september

[GJM]

The shortage of CDL drivers is real. My FIL is retired from Penske. He started as a driver and ended up in the office. He gets pinged weekly about returning to driving, and he is 72. I am not even sure he can pass a DOT physical, considering he has diabetes, had cataract surgery this year, and is 72.

I have generally considered 18 wheeler drivers to be Pro's, but lately I have seen a lot of crappy driving, suggesting the driver pool has expanded to include drivers who previously wouldn't have been driving. Saw this on I10 on Tuesday night.

[GJM]

I have read many theories on why so many people have not rejoined the work force. The WaPo will tell you it is because workers are under compensated or treated poorly. Hannity will tell you it is because of enhanced unemployment. The WSJ said yesterday, vaccine mandates have been an issue. I think the "truth" will turn out that it is multi factorial, and complicated. The most interesting question for me isn't why people aren't working but whether they will work again in the future.

[Navin Johnson]

The lack of drivers is also hurting the auto industry as it is taking longer for product to arrive. Some of the auto manufactures saw this coming and paid the drivers during covid to keep them from seeking new employment.

[Borderland]

I have read many theories on why so many people have not rejoined the work force. The WaPo will tell you it is because workers are under compensated or treated poorly. Hannity will tell you it is because of enhanced unemployment. The WSJ said yesterday, vaccine mandates have been an issue. I think the "truth" will turn out that it is multi factorial, and complicated. The most interesting question for me isn't why people aren't working but whether they will work again in the future.

A friend of mine who is 62 retired early. He was vaccinated but the virus worried him. He won't go inside with the public unless he has to. He had a good retirement and didn't need the money.

I think a lot of boomers are calling it quits early and won't be back.

[entropy]

...and the transportation party is just warming up...


https://www.zerohedge.com/political/...nation-mandate

[GJM]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biggest...ys-11633858380

Snippet:

Global supply-chain delays are so severe that some of the biggest U.S. retailers have resorted to an extreme—and expensive—tactic to try to stock shelves this holiday season: They are chartering their own cargo ships to import goods.