Narrator: There are almost 100 ships
waiting off the coast of Southern California.
This backlog has been record-breaking, and there are so many
containers on the ships in Long Beach
that, if laid end to end,
their contents could cover the distance from LA to Chicago.
And that's not counting the containers that have already
been unloaded and are waiting to leave the ports.
The holdup is delaying the delivery of tons of goods
like medical supplies, clothing, and furniture.
So how can we fix the backlog, and what will happen
to the half a million containers still stuck at sea
in Southern California?
The ships are all waiting to enter the Port of Los Angeles
or the Port of Long Beach.
These are the two largest ports in the US,
and they're some of the closest to Asia,
where the US gets 67% of its imports from.
The Port of Los Angeles saw an almost 30% increase
in cargo volume in the first nine months of 2021.
That's because Americans have been spending more money
on goods than on services since the pandemic began.
The two ports have only 39 spots for container ships,
and they're all filled up.
So now, on average, ships have been stuck
for almost 18 1/2 days.
And some, even more.
The AS Constantina was waiting for almost two months
before it could unload.
It was carrying 2,000 containers full of hunting equipment.
The crews are also stuck with the vessels,
partly because of COVID restrictions.
And even anchoring in a spot to wait isn't easy.
Ships waiting to dock have to be 2 miles apart
and 2 miles from shallow water.
Anchored ships can be a little closer
but still have to keep their distance.
And even when they finally dock, unloading can take days.
The Port of Los Angeles has 82 cranes,
and each can unload one container per minute.
Gene: Two-thirds of these ships are much smaller vessels,
averaging 5,000 TEUs or less.
Narrator: Like this ship,
the Zhong Gu Shan Dong,
which can hold about 3,400 containers. And workers can use
up to five cranes to unload them.
On the bigger side is the MSC Danit,
which can stack up 13,200 containers.
Unloading a ship can take about a week.
Before the pandemic, it only took about five days at most.
Gene: But we're going to keep chipping away.
Getting this aging cargo off the docks is job No. 1.
Narrator: And the countrywide worker shortage
is only making matters worse.
There's just too much volume and not enough workers
at every point in the supply chain.
Ports need skilled people to operate the cranes
moving containers off the ships and to drive top handlers
that load containers onto trucks.
And it takes specialized training to learn these skills.
Warehouse job openings are also at an all-time high.
Brutal hours and poor working conditions
are putting people off.
And the US is short 80,000 truck drivers,
a record high.
Low pay, poor benefits, and long hours
have pushed tons of drivers out of the industry.
Narrator: Some of these drivers can wait
up to eight hours in 5-mile lines
just to pick up containers, all without pay.
Most aren't paid hourly.
Instead, they're paid per load.
Each truck has to go through at least three lines
at the port:
one to get in, one to pick up, and one just to leave.
Stephen: The folks who are on the ground are doing
all they can, essentially, to work around a system
that's basically in complete constipation.
Narrator: And even when they finally pick up the cargo,
there's often no place to put it,
because warehouses are full, too.
This trucking company in LA's Wilmington neighborhood
has a parking lot full of containers.
Another has trucks parked on the street,
leading one neighborhood to put up a sign
warning trucks away.
Around the ports in Southern California,
only 1% of warehouse space is still available.
And nationwide vacancy is only at 3.6%,
the lowest since 2002.
This fulfillment center in Fort Wayne, Indiana,
is 480,000 square feet.
It opened in 2020, and it's already almost at capacity.
The company that owns it, Sweetwater,
started ordering holiday stock earlier than usual
to make sure it would come on time.
Phil: We would probably order holiday stuff in July or June.
And we backed it all the way into
March and April this year.
Narrator: And just in case shelter filled up,
Sweetwater made backup plans.
Phil: And we have to look at space around the campus
that we can use for inventory, if we need it.
Just in case we need the space, let's get it ready.
Narrator: The backlog across the supply chain
is so bad that President Joe Biden stepped in.
He launched a deal for the ports of LA and Long Beach
to operate 24/7.
Biden: This is the first key step
toward moving our entire freight transportation
and logistical supply chain nationwide
to a 24/7 system.
Narrator: Both ports say they will fine
shipping companies $100 for every day
a container stays over nine days
if the backlog doesn't clear.
That could apply to almost 60,000 containers
in Southern California. But experts say
that won't help, and the fines have been delayed.
And that extra cost will likely trickle down
to the consumers, making everything more expensive.
Inflation rates are already at their highest since 1990.
Prices are up 6.2%.
Supply chain problems have a human cost, too.
People are working harder and longer
to get things on the shelves.
But there's no real end in sight.
Experts say that we could see this crisis stretch into 2023.
Short of a complete stop in imports,
these ships will just keep on coming.