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Unlike most years, 2021’s peak season started in June as retail giants Walmart and Amazon desperately try to restock inventory and avoid the trucking, rail, & ocean cargo congestion delays that plague the US west coast. Between rail embargos and empty containers getting preference over loaded export boxes, the new measures many carriers and companies are taking to recover from some of the most severe congestion are measures that experts expect will further complicate the delays they’re fighting. 
Executive orders aren't enough to fight logistics disruption
As of July 9th, the Biden Administration set an Executive Order in an effort to drive down prices and mitigate the lack of competition caused by too much consolidation among carriers. While this is expected to help with poor business practices like price gouging and tender rejections, the only true cure for the disruption, according to the World Shipping Council is for demand to decrease to give operators enough time to catch up on backlogs.
Air rates spike due to ocean disruption during peak season
The old saying remains, if you can't get something in time via ocean freight, send it by air! You can get it much faster for much more money. However now, air freight is also experiencing capacity issues driving up prices as ocean disruption is reaching critical levels. Import demand shows no signs of decreasing and more shippers are turning to air cargo to get critical inventory to stores while they wait for large ocean shipments to clear and deliver.
NEWS FROM COPPERSMITH
COPPERSMITH TO REQUIRE ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS
Today all transportation vendors are requiring electronic payments. Shipping Lines, Air Carriers, Terminals, and even 3PL’s have realized that electronic payments are fast, reliable, and affordable. Our industry has evolved and we too need to keep pace in both our shipment processing and our accounting efficiencies. Starting August 1, 2021, Coppersmith too will require that all customers make their payments to us via ACH, wire transfer, or credit card. You can visit our website to see our updated Credit Policy which addresses this and other changes to our monetary policies. Please contact your Coppersmith customer service professional to obtain our banking information to start making your payments electronically. We thank you for your business!
For Importers: 
We are being asked this question daily "What is going in with shipping (congestion, rates, delays, etc.")? It's a very good question and I will try to answer it.
US-based port congestion is certainly related to COVID-19, record volumes, rail congestion, lack of dockworkers and truckers etc. However, that's just part of the issue. As of today, global port congestion is still causing major disruption to the industry. From China to Europe, Africa, Middle East & India ships are piling up while ports struggle to handle the massive influx of consumer demand & changing habits caused by the pandemic.

Drewry predicts ocean issues until 2025
Capacity on the ocean lanes is expectedly terrible, but don't expect that to be fixed by 2023, according to Drewry Research. In an article available on Splash 24/7 and linked below, we're looking at the actual breadth of issues that have plagued ocean imports to the US and Europe since the start of the pandemic when carriers erroneously blanked sailings expecting quarantined consumers to slow down their buying. What happened instead is now an eighteen-month catastrophe that likely won't be settled and normalized until 2025. Read more for the whole story.

Typhoon In-Fa has caused delays in Shanghai, China as airports and seaports experience massive flooding and rainfall. Photos that floated around the internet earlier this week showed the subways and streets overflowing with water as commuters were trapped waiting for services to be restored and rescuers to arrive. The delays in logistics aren't expected to be too excessive and authorities expect them to be managed in about a week.
When the pandemic started, many airlines re-outfitted their passenger planes to carry cargo, turning them into what we in the industry are now commonly calling, "pfreighters". The lack of belly space available after travel restrictions were placed cut into the cargo options for carriers. It seems that time is drawing to a close as United and some other airlines are now announcing the end or the final phase-out of the passenger plane redo.
Much like the late 1990's rap battle days, the trucking industry is now itself feeling the East vs. West push and pull. For others of a certain age, think Rocky IV - not the same but still, great movie, right?

In addition to capacity issues impacting rail and truck shipments, carriers are frantic to try and find enough drivers to keep cargo moving amid a deluge of imports trying to find space in warehouses.