Are trains stuck on the water?

I think you are spot-on, even our VP said during her East Asia tour, "shop now for Christmas".

Well, the Christmas shopping season starts earlier every year, so why not start now.  I remember when it started the day after Thanksgiving.

Better on the water than in it.

If you were following the GGD Amtrak thread, the Owner of the company, Scott Mann gave a very good explanation of the container situation off the west coast, how it is affecting both schedule and cost, and as a bonus to anyone interested put a link to a web tracker that would tell customers with orders for second run F3s and the Amtrak cars where the specific container ship was.  First class customer service and interesting information.

I have started shopping already in order to avoid the shipping delays that we had to deal with last year.

Whom are they blaming now, Truck drivers, dock workers, customs, not enough workers, or all of above...I think I know the answer however if I said it most likely my post would be...gone.

Shipping entrepreneurs, step up ...

With the Los Angeles and Long Beach container ports overwhelmed, I wonder -- would this be a good time to establish a third container port?  Perhaps in southern California at San Diego? Or in northern California at Oakland?  Just saying -- with the hope that an emerging shipping magnate would seize the opportunity.

Mike Mottler     LCCA 12394

  Working a flight from Long Beach to Phoenix the other day, the First Officer & I counted well over thirty container ships waiting.

Had a view of the docks from the hotel room, the cranes were loading/unloading continuously.  

Tom

From the dearth of trains arriving anywhere close to the manufacturers’ previous shipping schedule listings this year, I would hazard a guess that this is indeed the case. They will get here when they get here.

@Mike H Mottler posted:

Shipping entrepreneurs, step up ...

With the Los Angeles and Long Beach container ports overwhelmed, I wonder -- would this be a good time to establish a third container port?  Perhaps in southern California at San Diego? Or in northern California at Oakland?  Just saying -- with the hope that an emerging shipping magnate would seize the opportunity.

Mike Mottler     LCCA 12394

Sure... Easy-Peasy.

Container port checklist

Rusty

The global supply chain issues really aren’t “new” news. The issue has been exhaustively covered both in the trade press as well as newspapers and on TV. And the problem isn’t specific to the US west coast. Pick a container port anywhere right now and there’s a back up.

It’s a shortage of ships, containers, dock workers in Asia, rail and terminal capacity here in North America and a truck driver shortage. And every industry trade article I’ve seen indicates the problems will persist well into 2022.

Our train orders are only one of a multitude of things either awaiting space on a ship in China, in containers on a ship awaiting berthing space in North America, in a container terminal in an east or west coast port awaiting space on a train, sitting in a container on a train awaiting ramp space here in the States or in a container stored at a ramp waiting for a drayman to pick it up. I spent 40 years in logistics and what we’re seeing now is analogous to “the perfect storm”. I wake up every morning thanking God and my last employer that I’m retired.

Be patient. As Dave notes, they’ll get here when they get here.

Curt

Sitting here in SE PA, there is not much I can do, except be patient. That seems to be the new way of doing things. Mark

When I clicked on Rusty's check list link, I only received a Page Error message from provider.

Chuck

@PRR1950 posted:

When I clicked on Rusty's check list link, I only received a Page Error message from provider.

Chuck

Guess it's doesn't like copied links . It works from Google searching "Container Port construction."

Rusty

One of the advantages of working with older used stuff.

Frank

Another good reason to build it here. I would least give it a try.

As Scott said, the container shortage is a result of the pandemic that affected China and still does.

Sick workers, drivers and others can't get containers back to shippers so there is a container shortage.

We are just some of the unlucky recipients of that shortage.

@jim sutter posted:

Another good reason to build it here.

And a good reason not to, for at least the last 20 years, is that "it's far too expensive to do so".

Jim, what's your solution to this part of the whole question?  Should we just suck it up and pay more?  (At least then we might be able to believe the delivery schedules.)

Mike

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

And a good reason not to, for at least the last 20 years, is that "it's far too expensive to do so".

Jim, what's your solution to this part of the whole question?  Should we just suck it up and pay more?  (At least then we might be able to believe the delivery schedules.)

Mike

As one who worked for a US manufacturer, we experienced delays and shortages from suppliers.  Even had a US vendor who tried to pull the wool over our eyes by selling us counterfeit electronic parts.

Rusty

Just look at the auto shortages which was caused by the automakers pushing off the manufacturing of electrical chips.  So doing it HERE may not be the answer either.

The biggest problem has been a shortage of the chips used to control everything from powertrains to digital safety systems. That has resulted in closings or production cuts by many of the industry's largest manufacturers in the past few weeks, including General Motors, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Ford, Toyota and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler, alfa Romeo, Citroën, Dodge, Ram, Fiat, Maserati, Opel,  and Jeep.)

I've stated it elsewhere on this forum, but everything is going through a temporary period of adjust as economies come back online.  In my full-time world of the construction industry, residential windows are anywhere from twelve to more weeks out for standard sizes.  Customs sizes are anyone's guess.  Steel joists for a small 10,000 s.f. commercial building I worked on were ordered in July and the General Contractor was thrilled that the delivery date got moved up to February 2022 from April.  Even personally, I went to a local big-box construction materials retailer looking for an 8x10 sheet of vinyl for a shed.  30 day lead time.  I got indoor/outdoor carpet instead. 

I see bare shelves in just about every store I visit. The world has not seen an economic disruption like this since WWII, so supply chain problems were inevitable. There’s nothing we can do but wait it out and hope that the situation stabilizes sooner rather than later. Obviously, the manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors want things resolved as quickly as possible, certainly even more than we do.

On a more promising note, MTH’s new SW1 switchers have arrived. Looking forward to getting my GN version before too long! Ordered back in March.

But was not the backup starting already at LA/LB BEFORE CV19?  The virus accelerated some issues.

But due to various issues, people cannot change on the fly.  Some wete not trained that way.  Others want to try, say, a different port, but the powers that be will not let. Or union rules.  Or "green" rules which cost and polute more.......

@AlanRail posted:

Just look at the auto shortages which was caused by the automakers pushing off the manufacturing of electrical chips.  So doing it HERE may not be the answer either.

It was my understanding that the chips are manufactured in Taiwan

I work in a medium size public school district and the company that services our fire alarm system has been for months trying to get new parts for the system and can't. I'm just glad I got my Penn Central GP-30 from Mr Muffins. I have enough trains to keep me occupied..But Christmas will be rough for parents of young kids..Mine are 17 and can be bought off with cash.

IMO opinion we should all count our blessings. Though the prices of everything is up and rising we still have the basic necessities of life. We can go to the grocery store/restaurant for nourishment, we have electricity, running water, etc. I'm sure most on this thread have enough trains/hobbies to hold them over until things get better and start to arrive. If you paid money for your items you clearly have all the rights in the world to them. However, remember we just sort of got over a major world crisis and I, for one, am glad to still see another day remembering some are no longer with us. We are a privileged people and I know it can be hard to come down a notch when we're used to a certain way of life but right now we just have to. Patience is a virtue and something we can all learn from and right now we have no choice.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Dave

@luvindemtrains posted:

IMO opinion we should all count our blessings. Though the prices of everything is up and rising we still have the basic necessities of life. We can go to the grocery store/restaurant for nourishment, we have electricity, running water, etc. I'm sure most on this thread have enough trains/hobbies to hold them over until things get better and start to arrive. If you paid money for your items you clearly have all the rights in the world to them. However, remember we just sort of got over a major world crisis and I, for one, am glad to still see another day remembering some are no longer with us. We are a privileged people and I know it can be hard to come down a notch when we're used to a certain way of life but right now we just have to. Patience is a virtue and something we can all learn from and right now we have no choice.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Dave

You get it. And you got it right: The whole world is living through a very, very tough time and we here are really fortunate that we have it far better than most.

Thanks for your wise comments.

There are much more important things to be apprehensive about in these times, as far as trains are concerned they get here when they get here.