"Significant US logistical issues" Topic

Hey it's not just me saying this – the US has a major issue with resupply as the number of US flagged commercial ship dwindles.

Oh and not jus shortages in terms of ships but also of qualified mariners (mariners these days are mainly third world nationals).

link

I know 3 graduates from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (trains officers for commercial shipping is one of their jobs).

One of them worked Great Lake shipping and also East Coast / Gulf of Mexico runs for years.

None of them are currently involved in the shipping industry in any way.

There are around 60+ cargo ships off the coast of CA. A smaller number on the East coast as well. Awaiting to unload their cargo. But supposedly there is a shortage of longshoreman (?) + Trucks with drivers waiting to be loaded. To take their loads to warehouse or railheads.

So shortage of mariners is no surprise either really …

I have heard that at some places the NG are being called to help with this "crisis". Probably another crisis that could have been avoided with capable leadership at the top, etc.

Note the difference in what it costs to flag a ship in the US, the costs to meet environmental & safety requirements, the salary difference (labor costs) to operate a US ship via foreign flagged, foreign labor on board them, etc., and then tell me how that differs from US manufacturing fleeing the country over the past 50 years.

The US population decided decades ago that it wanted cheap products to buy and were not willing to support national and local companies and the wages their employees made.

Hence the shrinking middle class, wage stagnation (or worse), decline in manufacturing and the death of unions.

a shortage of longshoreman (?) + Trucks with drivers waiting to be loaded.

My understanding is that there really is not a truck OR driver shortage per se, but rather a set of new laws (California AB 5) that makes it difficult if not impossible to drive a truck as an owner-operator contractor, and another newish law that says all trucks must be 2011 or newer models. Essentially the law says "in order to haul for a company you have to be a formal employee of the company" and the exceptions that allow drivers to operate as contractors are almost impossible to meet for an owner operator to continue operation. Unfortunately owner operator contractors have been a huge part of the transport industry there If there is a shortage it is really a migration because owner operators are fleeing the state to work elsewhere. This is my understanding. I could have it wrong.

The INTENT of the law was to get companies to more fairly treat contractors by making them formal employees with benefits, etc., but the EFFECT of the law has been to put a lot of contractors out of business because companies cannot now hire them as contractors and won't hire them as employees. Benefits are expensive folks.

This is not the ENTIRE cause of the backlog, but it is a factor.

I have heard similar … but was not sure … either.

Dan – I think you are talking about corporate decisions not to use American facilities and workers in order to maximize profits. The resulting transfer of wealth wrecked the middle class. Automation now plays a major role in American manufacturing job loss today.

Every major country has the same problems. Lorries in Britain have been having issues for months, and they have the pandemic and Brexit issues to deal with.

The US population decided decades ago that it wanted cheap products to buy and were not willing to support national and local companies and the wages their employees made.

US elites made the decision, the cheap goods were just the "games" for the locals to keep them quiet. The "bread" was welfare which ramped up massively ever since. The Romans would be proud!

In Australia the last decision they made regarding self sufficiency and industrialisation was in 1973 and that decision was to deindustrialise and destroy self sufficiency. Every single government since has kept along the same path. Even COVID didn't stop this despite shortages.

We are nearly at the point we won't be able to refine oil in Australia yet is the government doing anything concrete about it like eg buy the oil refineries that are being closed? Of course not.

US elites made the decision, the cheap goods were just the "games" for the locals to keep them quiet. The "bread" was welfare which ramped up massively ever since. The Romans would be proud!

Bingo ! And it becomes more & more clear that this is the way things are being done by the elites i.e. millionaires/billionaires & many in US gov't …

And it becomes more & more clear, 1/3 is running things or trying too, with 2/3s being victims of this type of situation/leadership(?). Again, the tail is wagging the dog …

I imagine we can utilize commercial ones (hopefully), when needed.

Much more worrisome to me is the planned/current destruction of our energy industry which IS a real strategic threat to our country and its interests.

Being dependent once again on Iran, Russia, and the rest of OPEC for fossil fuel production in time of war is a real danger.

I imagine we can utilize commercial ones (hopefully), when needed.

The article talks about commercial ones.

US civil fleet is small and shrinking.

Unless you impress foreign owned ships and their crews!