Is Air Cargo Really A Bargain Right Now?
This is an excerpt from Thursday's (3|12) Point of Sale retail supply chain newsletter sponsored by ArcBest. Retailers are stuck between playing the ocean waiting game and ponying up for air cargo. The number of container ships in San Pedro Bay has hovered around 30 since the start of the year and levels remain stubbornly high. As of Wednesday, there were 31 at anchor. The CMA CGM Marco Polo — with a capacity of 16,022 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) — has been stuck at anchor the longest, since Feb. 27. The median time a container ship spent anchored outside the port last week was just over 7.5 days before it could head to berth. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have received the lion's share of media attention given their scale and importance to the U.S. consumer, but it is a common story playing out around the country (and the world). Up the coast of California, ship-positioning data from MarineTraffic showed 13 ships at anchor off Oakland as of Wednesday. Even further to the north, MarineTraffic data showed 11 ships at anchor off Vancouver in British Columbia, as Asian exports to the U.S. are flowing heavily through Canada as well.
Is Air Cargo Really A Bargain Right Now?
This is an excerpt from Thursday's (3|12) Point of Sale retail supply chain newsletter sponsored by ArcBest. Retailers are stuck between playing the ocean waiting game and ponying up for air cargo. The number of container ships in San Pedro Bay has hovered around 30 since the start of the year and levels remain stubbornly high. As of Wednesday, there were 31 at anchor. The CMA CGM Marco Polo — with a capacity of 16,022 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) — has been stuck at anchor the longest, since Feb. 27. The median time a container ship spent anchored outside the port last week was just over 7.5 days before it could head to berth. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have received the lion's share of media attention given their scale and importance to the U.S. consumer, but it is a common story playing out around the country (and the world). Up the coast of California, ship-positioning data from MarineTraffic showed 13 ships at anchor off Oakland as of Wednesday. Even further to the north, MarineTraffic data showed 11 ships at anchor off Vancouver in British Columbia, as Asian exports to the U.S. are flowing heavily through Canada as well.