The faltering global supply chain

[Dusty Negative]

Nothing folks here haven’t been feeling, but it’s interesting just *how* gummed up the global supply chain is right now. I’m increasingly buying local chemistry as a small measure. Been trying Sprint Systems chemistry — too early to say much but I’m liking it thus far.

‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This’: Chaos Strikes Global Shipping

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/business/global-shipping.html?referringSource=articleShare

 

[Sirius Glass]

We have ships backed up and parking in the bay outside Los Angeles for a year now. And there is not a long shore man strike going on.

 

[Wayne]

I can't find dried shiitake at my usual place. That really sucks but I still have some, and other than that things aren't so bad.

 

[btaylor]

We are seeing these issues at work, random automotive parts are simply unavailable from any of our suppliers.

 

[ic-racer]

I have not had any issue buying film, paper or chemistry. Is the article a prediction?

 

[Dusty Negative]

I have not had any issue buying film, paper or chemistry. Is the article a prediction?

You are fortunate! If you haunt some of the forums here you’ll see several folks struggling to get certain items. I, myself, have suffered little, thankfully. I’m sure it depends where one is and what the item in question is.

 

[John Bragg]

Had a shortage of Canon printers in the UK and EU for a while, but that was months ago and all seems ok now. As for chems and film, no problems getting my usual Ilford stuff.

 

[JBrunner]

There are more ships anchored off Astoria than I have ever seen. I ordered something from Germany on Dec 20. It was in transit Dec 21. It showed up today.

 

[Dusty Negative]

Had a shortage of Canon printers in the UK and EU for a while, but that was months ago and all seems ok now. As for chems and film, no problems getting my usual Ilford stuff.

Didn’t Ilford/Harman shut down completely for a while?

 

[John Bragg]

Didn’t Ilford/Harman shut down completely for a while?

They worked hard to build stocks of everything before closing the production line during lockdown. Net result, no shortage, but I bought an extra brick to be sure.

 

[Dusty Negative]

They worked hard to build stocks of everything before closing the production line during lockdown. Net result, no shortage, but I bought an extra brick to be sure.

Keep Calm and Stock Ilford.

 

[wiltw]

Some time back I read about ships full of crew who had been abandoned at sea by the ship owners, without an ability to dock somewhere so that crew members could leave ship to fly home and without pay coming in their abandoned state. Hundreds have been stuck on their vessels, some for years, when their ships' owners have run out of money. Sailors who leave their ships in these circumstances risk never being being paid and so feel they have to stay put. Captains and crew have not been paid in years, and they have to fish to keep themselves fed.

"The crew are left powerless and penniless, often thousands of miles from home. Returning home can be practically impossible for seafarers stranded with no fuel, no money and sometimes no permission to access the nearest port."​

The stuck goods are a small aspect of the human suffering that happens!

 

[MattKing]

Didn’t Ilford/Harman shut down completely for a while?

Yes, as did Eastman Kodak.

 

[MattKing]

We live adjacent to one of the largest container ports on the west coast of North America. If anything, I would say traffic is down, because I'm not seeing the trucks backed up waiting to unload containers.
There are lots traveling to and fro, and lots on the trains as well, but in years gone by we saw major backlogs of parked trucks.

 

[R.Gould]

Over here Bre3xit is the big problem, getting anything from the EU is, shall we say, a problem, film,chemistry paper iis fine, normally 2 or 3 days, (I live in Jersey, a small Island, part of the Channel islands, and an export as far as the UK is concerned), but I have now been waiting for 2 months for some parts for my Classic Mercedes, available, but around £150 and have to come from Germany, and all the dealer says is we have no Idea how much longer,last year it would have been 2 or 3 days,, no good trying to order from photo dealers in EU, I have a friend been waiting so far for an order from Maco, he has bought from them for years, normally 1 week, no one knows how long now, in the system somewhere, but nobody knows where

 

[ChristopherCoy]

The only thing that I can speak of, and that we have had trouble finding is BIKES.

We started looking for higher quality bikes to start riding back in October. At that time there wasn't a bike to be found anywhere. We went to every bike shop in Houston. The only things that were available were the ultra high price professionally geared bikes. We were told that they didn't have anything in our price range, hadn't had any in months, and probably wouldn't have any for many more months to come. Additionally they wouldn't even accept an order for one because the manufacturers were telling dealers they didn't know when they were going to be able to fill normal stock, much less special orders. We couldn't even find cheap WalMart bikes then. Every six weeks or so we make a call to the bike shops again just to see if by chance they've received inventory. Most times by the time we call new inventory that just happens to show up has already been bought out.

The flip side of that is that we attempted to buy used bikes and have them serviced. A visit to our local bike repair shop found the same issues. Parts for restoration and repair weren't available and there's no estimate when things will be back on track. A $30 bike tire is now costing upwards of $100 or more. And anything else like gears or brake assemblies just aren't even on the radar on right now.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I can also say that back in October a friend and I went fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. After leaving the Houston Ship Channel, we went out 25 miles or more. At some point we lost sight of the mainland, but for miles and miles around it was like we had entered another city, except instead of high-rise buildings, it was nothing but stacked container ships at anchor. Upon returning we had to bob and weave through them just to get back. All of these red circles are ships that are currently at anchor as of the time of this post. You can see that there are far more ships at anchor in the gulf than there are up in the port.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

And this is the biggest shame of them all:

Pressure built as Americans refashioned their spending. Deprived of vacations and restaurant meals, they bought video game consoles and pastry mixers. They outfitted their homes for remote work and distance learning.

Exercise equipment shipped by container from Asia to North America more than doubled between September and November, compared with the same period a year earlier,

As other countries are fighting just to stay alive, we as Americans feel so entitled that we ramp up orders of video games and exercise equipment, which we all know will end up as coat racks in three weeks.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My problem was not products or merchandise rather the lack of vaccines available. Now that I got mine, I am patiently waiting for the world to slowly and properly reopen to minimize the illness spread.

 

[cmacd123]

Apperently marine containers (AKA "Sea Cans" are also in short supply, perhaps as no one wants to "waste" a slot on an container ship moving an empty box.

 

[Dusty Negative]

In many ways I’m surprised the entire system has held up as well as it had. I’ve had few (not none) issues, and many folks here also claim few/none. I’d have expected worse. Of course, I don’t run a business based on a just-in-time philosophy. I expect they are suffering.

 

[Lachlan Young]

Didn’t Ilford/Harman shut down completely for a while?

The factory was shut from end of March to late June last year (warehouse remained in operation dispatching orders - it's highly automated) - they boosted production in March to cover their assumptions of demand for the period, but sales were big enough that they reported they had barely a week's worth of finished HP5+ when they went back to work. I vaguely recall reading that they'd made 6 months of stock, but that may be wrong - either way, materials sold faster than expected - and you could see the effects through the rest of the year as materials clearly went out of stock before coating/ finishing schedules could keep/ catch up.

 

[Dusty Negative]

The factory was shut from end of March to late June last year (warehouse remained in operation dispatching orders - it's highly automated) - they boosted production in March to cover their assumptions of demand for the period, but sales were big enough that they reported they had barely a week's worth of finished HP5+ when they went back to work. I vaguely recall reading that they'd made 6 months of stock, but that may be wrong - either way, materials sold faster than expected - and you could see the effects through the rest of the year as materials clearly went out of stock before coating/ finishing schedules could keep/ catch up.

That’s a great story, and a testament to a great and seemingly well-run organization.

 

[wiltw]

My problem was not products or merchandise rather the lack of vaccines available. Now that I got mine, I am patiently waiting for the world to slowly and properly reopen to minimize the illness spread.

Consider that, as a fairly rich country, we have been able to place large orders for vaccine doses, but the poor countries have not be able to get much for themselves. So while our efforts to get ourselves vaccinated has been somewhat of an ordeal to get an appointments, imagine what it must be like in a poor country. As of mid-February, the UN says 130 countries have not received a single Covid vaccine dose. 10 countries have administered 75% of all vaccinations
Consider also, that so many folks (1/3) are dead set against being vaccinated, the US will never achieve herd immunity level (80% vaccinated), so the virus will continue spread and to evolve and maybe there evolves one which is vaccine resistant. Other countries may continue to ban travellers from US because of the high levels of unvaccinated population...hopefully there will be an International COVID Vaccine card, so the stupidity of others does not interfere with travel by vaccinated people!

 

[ced]

The west needs to wake up and start up local industries that were lost to the countries where near slavery goes on.
We need to bring that work home & give the pleasure back to the home grown labour force where they could take pride again to see their own work valued as in the past, putting people back to work along with food on the table. Price is not everything, sometimes some of us appreciate quality over mass produced throw away junk (ending in places we can ill afford) we would even be prepared to pay the extra & not shipping around the globe causing all sorts of other disasters.
Alas this is just a scratch as nobody gives a hoot anyhow woe awaits...