Chain reaction throws global supply chain into disarray
Matilde Martinez, Staff Writer
Just off the coast of Los Angeles and Long Beach, over 100 cargo ships float at sea, waiting to be unloaded at the industrial ports. This backlog is a result of a worldwide crisis affecting the supply chain, or the complex network between a company and its suppliers focused on getting products to consumers. The supply chain, strained since the beginning of the pandemic, is a setback to the recovery of the global economy. With no end in sight, this crisis can potentially affect consumers all over the world, including Samo students and Samo’s food supply.
The root of this global problem can be found in a large amount of buying triggered by quarantine and a lack of labor. According to CNBC, during isolation more was spent on material goods for homes, with cleaning items, books, electronics and more rising in sales. The products bought are shipped from Asia to docks like the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, where they are met by a lack of dockworkers and truck drivers caused by COVID-19 precautions and infections. Many people have also not returned to their jobs because they see no incentive in doing so when government stimulus checks pay them more than they previously earned. This absence of workers means there aren’t enough hands to unload the ships, which contain about 10,000 to 21,000 containers each. As cargo ships with more goods keep arriving, there is no space to unload, and therefore some remain at sea for over a month. The backlog is especially prominent in Southern California because the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports receive 40 percent of the shipping containers entering the U.S.
Shannon Cox, AP Human Geography and AP World History teacher, finds the labor shortage to be the biggest problem.
“It’s not a consumer problem in terms of buying products, it’s that we have a shortage of labor. We need to get the labor force put back in… As consumers, the best thing we can do is go to work… Things aren’t going to get better if people don’t work,” Cox said.
Consumers will most likely experience delays in their orders as products remain stuck on vessels. Further delays may occur as there are not enough employees to drive the trucks and trains loaded with the goods that make it off. All this pressure has also increased the price of delivering on cargo ships to about $20,000 for one trip, around ten times what it was before the pandemic, leading to increased shipping prices for buyers.
Eleanor Smith (’24) is one of many Samo students who met trouble while ordering products during Homecoming week.
“When ordering my Halloween costume, I ended up having to get an entirely different one because the shipping had been delayed until mid-November. I was also trying to find a dress for Homecoming, and many of the ones I was looking at weren’t going to arrive until December because of the dilemma,” Smith said.
The crisis may also directly affect Samo students in another way. A recent survey by the School Nutrition Association, a nonprofit organization focused on providing low-cost meals to students across the nation, determined that 97 percent of 1,368 meal program directors surveyed were worried about the supply chain crisis affecting their school’s ability to provide meals. Many reported shortages of food ingredients and cutlery to serve students. Cox shares the same concerns.
“With COVID happening, we have now been providing free lunches to everyone… If you’re having problems with the supply chain… you are going to see not as much food coming in… Who is that going to affect? Disproportionally the students who are reliant on the free and reduced lunch,” Cox said.
To reduce the stress on the Los Angeles Port and avoid problems like these, President Joe Biden decreed on Oct. 13 that it would remain open 24 hours a day. Nevertheless, as the holiday season approaches, more goods will be bought and the supply chain is expected to strain even more. Experts say there is no telling when the supply chain will return to normal, with predictions ranging from six months to over a year. As such, the long-term effects of this crisis remain to be seen.
