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Tweet from Flexport CEO about what's currently happening at Long Beach ports. https://mobile.twitter.com/typesfast/status/1450904056365404160 https://mobile.tw

Tweet from Flexport CEO about what's currently happening at Long Beach ports. https://mobile.twitter.com/typesfast/status/1450904056365404160 https://mobile.twitter.com/typesfast/status/1450904056365404... Seems there's a bottleneck because trucks aren't picking up containers from the port. They're running out of room in the yard to unload the container ships. The tweet explicitly says that the Port is not slowing anything down and that they want more shifts. Rail deliveries are on schedule.

refurb 5y ago
Oh that Tweet is pure gold. “We went to the Port to ask the workers why there was a backlog and learned it’s other people that are the problem.” Great PR by Flexport though and smart to placate the Union. No way you can get anything done without greasing the right skids.
- geoduck14 5y ago
  >“We went to the Port to ask the workers why there was a backlog and learned it’s other people that are the problem.” 1000+ likes! I need to hire this guy to explain to my boss why our prod deployment failed!
spaceisballer 5y ago
This is exactly what I heard on The Daily. Everyone is buying stuff to get ready for the holidays but had nowhere to store it so they use the port. So normally when there would be zero container ships anchored there are now plenty. It’s a good listen but it all pretty much ties back to just in time manufacturing plus a lot of other complications. (Containers being all over the world because of shipping PPE and other pandemic items when normally those containers are filled back up and sent with other goods.)
legitster 5y ago
https://mobile.twitter.com/typesfast/status/1450904060253540355 https://mobile.twitter.com/typesfast/status/1450904060253540... Would love to know more about that. Appointments are full but no one is showing up for them? Companies just can't get drivers?
- Arrath 5y ago
  I can offer one anecdote, having only yesterday finally received a shipment that had been mired at long beach for over a month. My truck driver went to 3 appointments a week for the last 4 weeks, only to be told every time that there were no trailer frames to load the container onto for him to haul away.
- dmitrygr 5y ago
  i posted a sister comment with a possible explanation
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  I'm not on the scene. I don't work in that business. So take this with some salt. But I have heard that two things are causing issues. 1. California passed a law that all trucks older than 10 years old had to have expensive modifications (I believe for pollution control). Well, the average age of trucks is 14 years. Surprisingly (not), trucks became in short supply in California. 2. They passed this law that Uber drivers were employees, not contractors. Surprisingly (until you think about it), this same law hit owner-operators of trucks. That confuses the legalities of hiring owner-operators, which is a fair number of trucks. From what I heard, for both of these reasons, trucks and drivers are less available than they used to be in California.
  - computermagic 5y ago
    I don't think those have as much affect. Because point 1 went into affect in 2008 and point 2 truckers are exempt. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/oct/19/facebook-posts/californias-trucking-regulations-may-have-had-impa/ https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/oct/19/facebook-p...
    - bzbarsky 5y ago
      The very fact-check you link to says: > industry experts said that some owner-operators sought work elsewhere. Some fleets, too, chose to stop doing business with owner-operators in California. where "stop doing business" is a link to an article about people doing just that. And the "exemption" you mention is a temporary injunction that may be lifted at any time, which is not conducive to a stable business relationship.
dmitrygr 5y ago
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1448051858698907649.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1448051858698907649.html
- retbull 5y ago
  That story is so incredibly narrow and misleading its absurd.
  - rsj_hn 5y ago
    That's an empty dismissal. If you have a substantive counterargument, then make it.
dntrkv 5y ago
Sending a taco truck to the port is a great marketing move.
- pchristensen 5y ago
  It does provide marketing value, but I take Ryan at his word when he says it was to show appreciation to the workers at the port. Flexport's customers around the world are effected by the LA/LB port slowdowns, so any small thing we can do to help pays off for us.
delfinom 5y ago
https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/news/rigged-forced-into-debt-worked-past-exhaustion-left-with-nothing/ https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/news/rigged-forc... Lets pretend we don't have a deep dark issue with port trucking
abeppu 5y ago
I know some companies are pretty angry at the large shippers for sharp price increases (and IDK at what point that really becomes 'gouging'). But I wonder if there's a sort of 3rd order effect going on here, where shipping companies have made the problems which they then tripped over (and clogged the ports in the process): - Shipping companies realize that they can make more money by sailing empty back to pick stuff up in China, rather than wait to load up with goods leaving American ports - American warehouses get unusually full with stuff that can no longer get onto an out-going ship - Firms who have goods arriving at the port don't have warehouse space to receive them (or trucks to move them), so they linger in the yards at the port - Shipping companies are then slowed down waiting at the ports ... and perhaps there's also a whiff of tragedy of the commons between shipping companies, in that even if they realize that this is the impact of leaving goods piled up unable to leave the US, any one firm doesn't benefit from choosing to wait to load up before sailing back?
- fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
  It sounds like the feedback loop can only occur because there is a shortage of space at the warehouse. If warehouses responded to being full by raising prices until they are not full, would companies with goods in the warehouse start paying shippers more to take their goods from the warehouse? At some price, it will be worth the ship’s time to wait for the goods to be loaded.
pchristensen 5y ago
I didn't have anything to do with what Ryan is talking about in that Tweet thread, but it's representative of the positive attitude, competence, fairness, and energy that he brings to Flexport and culture that we are all trying to build. Flexport is a great place to work and this makes me proud to work here.

refurb 5y ago

Oh that Tweet is pure gold. “We went to the Port to ask the workers why there was a backlog and learned it’s other people that are the problem.” Great PR by Flexport though and smart to placate the Union. No way you can get anything done without greasing the right skids.

geoduck14 5y ago
>“We went to the Port to ask the workers why there was a backlog and learned it’s other people that are the problem.” 1000+ likes! I need to hire this guy to explain to my boss why our prod deployment failed!

spaceisballer 5y ago

This is exactly what I heard on The Daily. Everyone is buying stuff to get ready for the holidays but had nowhere to store it so they use the port. So normally when there would be zero container ships anchored there are now plenty. It’s a good listen but it all pretty much ties back to just in time manufacturing plus a lot of other complications. (Containers being all over the world because of shipping PPE and other pandemic items when normally those containers are filled back up and sent with other goods.)

legitster 5y ago

https://mobile.twitter.com/typesfast/status/1450904060253540355 https://mobile.twitter.com/typesfast/status/1450904060253540... Would love to know more about that. Appointments are full but no one is showing up for them? Companies just can't get drivers?

Arrath 5y ago
I can offer one anecdote, having only yesterday finally received a shipment that had been mired at long beach for over a month. My truck driver went to 3 appointments a week for the last 4 weeks, only to be told every time that there were no trailer frames to load the container onto for him to haul away.
dmitrygr 5y ago
i posted a sister comment with a possible explanation
AnimalMuppet 5y ago
I'm not on the scene. I don't work in that business. So take this with some salt. But I have heard that two things are causing issues. 1. California passed a law that all trucks older than 10 years old had to have expensive modifications (I believe for pollution control). Well, the average age of trucks is 14 years. Surprisingly (not), trucks became in short supply in California. 2. They passed this law that Uber drivers were employees, not contractors. Surprisingly (until you think about it), this same law hit owner-operators of trucks. That confuses the legalities of hiring owner-operators, which is a fair number of trucks. From what I heard, for both of these reasons, trucks and drivers are less available than they used to be in California.
- computermagic 5y ago
  I don't think those have as much affect. Because point 1 went into affect in 2008 and point 2 truckers are exempt. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/oct/19/facebook-posts/californias-trucking-regulations-may-have-had-impa/ https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/oct/19/facebook-p...
  - bzbarsky 5y ago
    The very fact-check you link to says: > industry experts said that some owner-operators sought work elsewhere. Some fleets, too, chose to stop doing business with owner-operators in California. where "stop doing business" is a link to an article about people doing just that. And the "exemption" you mention is a temporary injunction that may be lifted at any time, which is not conducive to a stable business relationship.

dmitrygr 5y ago

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1448051858698907649.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1448051858698907649.html

retbull 5y ago
That story is so incredibly narrow and misleading its absurd.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  That's an empty dismissal. If you have a substantive counterargument, then make it.

dntrkv 5y ago

Sending a taco truck to the port is a great marketing move.

pchristensen 5y ago
It does provide marketing value, but I take Ryan at his word when he says it was to show appreciation to the workers at the port. Flexport's customers around the world are effected by the LA/LB port slowdowns, so any small thing we can do to help pays off for us.

delfinom 5y ago

https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/news/rigged-forced-into-debt-worked-past-exhaustion-left-with-nothing/ https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/news/rigged-forc... Lets pretend we don't have a deep dark issue with port trucking

abeppu 5y ago

I know some companies are pretty angry at the large shippers for sharp price increases (and IDK at what point that really becomes 'gouging'). But I wonder if there's a sort of 3rd order effect going on here, where shipping companies have made the problems which they then tripped over (and clogged the ports in the process): - Shipping companies realize that they can make more money by sailing empty back to pick stuff up in China, rather than wait to load up with goods leaving American ports - American warehouses get unusually full with stuff that can no longer get onto an out-going ship - Firms who have goods arriving at the port don't have warehouse space to receive them (or trucks to move them), so they linger in the yards at the port - Shipping companies are then slowed down waiting at the ports ... and perhaps there's also a whiff of tragedy of the commons between shipping companies, in that even if they realize that this is the impact of leaving goods piled up unable to leave the US, any one firm doesn't benefit from choosing to wait to load up before sailing back?

fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
It sounds like the feedback loop can only occur because there is a shortage of space at the warehouse. If warehouses responded to being full by raising prices until they are not full, would companies with goods in the warehouse start paying shippers more to take their goods from the warehouse? At some price, it will be worth the ship’s time to wait for the goods to be loaded.

pchristensen 5y ago

I didn't have anything to do with what Ryan is talking about in that Tweet thread, but it's representative of the positive attitude, competence, fairness, and energy that he brings to Flexport and culture that we are all trying to build. Flexport is a great place to work and this makes me proud to work here.