Some container traffic that migrated to U.S. Gulf and East Coast ports in recent years is now being switched back to West Coast gateways by retailers and forwarders desperate to avoid supply chain disruption.
Low water on the Panama Canal and the de facto closure of the Suez Canal to container shipping due to Houthi militant attacks on vessels are causing scheduling chaos and soaring freight rates on many Asia to U.S. East Coast box services.
Accelerating the coastal transfer is “sabre rattling” by dockworker unions representing stevedores manning U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast terminals. This is spooking retailers, said Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy at the National Retail Federation.
Read more in an article from the American Journal of Transportation.