On Friday morning, West Coast port officials told CNN about a startling sight: Not a single cargo vessel had left China with goods for the two major West Coast ports in the past 12 hours. That hasn’t happened since the pandemic.
And the fun part is that these inbound ships are how the US gets empty containers to be able to export goods to foreign clients and a lot of times the US companies only get paid (or start the clock to get paid) once cargo is loaded to a ship.
There’s a database that tracks empty containers - right now there are an unusually huge number of empty containers in the US, probably from the pre-tariff surge. The US is fine for a while.
And the fun part is that these inbound ships are how the US gets empty containers to be able to export goods to foreign clients and a lot of times the US companies only get paid (or start the clock to get paid) once cargo is loaded to a ship.
There’s a database that tracks empty containers - right now there are an unusually huge number of empty containers in the US, probably from the pre-tariff surge. The US is fine for a while.
flatracks and open tops are tough to get right now