Thread by @TrentTelenko

This thread is on the unexamined local political issues affecting the supply chain blockage at California's Ports of LA & Long Beach.
1/
portoflosangeles.org

Salvadore Merclianos' Youtube channel "What's Going on With Shipping?" is 'must watch' streaming on the subject of world supply chain meltdown & the ports of LA/LB. This is one of his latest streams:
2/

The Youtube stream @mercoglianos runs is also a "must read" for its comments from truckers, railwaymen, warehousemen and others involved in the on-going world wide supply chain collapse.

Case in point this comment on how CARB pollution rules throttle SoCal port clearance.
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There are several things that fall out of those comments about California Air Resource Board trucking regulations WRT dealing with the port clearance issues at the ports of LA & Long Beach.
4/

ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/progr…

The fact that tractor trucks no older that 3 years old are required to pick up or deliver containers at the SoCal ports is creating an immense inflationary pressure on trucking as the SoCal freight rates draw such trucks from the rest of the nation.

5/
advanton.com/semi-truck-cos…

Semi-tractor-trailer trucks are not cheap brand new.

Most private owner-operators who container drop-ship have older trucks that don't meet CARB regulatory requirements and are excluded from California highways.

Cross-country freight costs go up.

6/
freightcenter.com/nationwide-shi…

Right now the market forces of this CARB regulatory fiat plus the container build up at the Ports of LA & Long Beach is creating a bidding war for last 3-years semi-tractor truck fleets.

This competition will go on until the rest of the nation outbids SoCal at a higher price
7/

The next few months ops solution will be some number of trucking firms running containers to the SoCal-Arizona border with new semi-trucks for other firms to pick up with older semi-trucks.

8/

There are a couple of problems with that thought as there is nothing like the International Inland Port of Dallas (IIPOD) on the Arizona side of I-10, I-40 or SH-AZ-95 to do the hand off efficiently.
9/
dallasecodev.org/414/Internatio…

You will have to go to Phoenix, Az for good & sufficient intermodal container hand off facilities.

This may work for a few months supporting 24/7 SoCal port clearance...

...then you fail because of the CARB.

10/

Like it did with older Semi-tractor rigs, the CARB will drop the regulatory Mjolnir on top of the Ports of LA & Long Beach if they go to 24/7 operations.

This is because of the emissions of all the additional Semi-rigs need clear the ports.

The CARB will limit operations...
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...because that is the only war to be certain in stopping additional diesel emissions in SoCal.

Electric vehicles are not an option.

ccjdigital.com/alternative-po…

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The world supply chain disruptions in semi-conductors have kicked @elonmusk electric semi-truck into 2023.

It is only with such trucks that the CARB will allow SoCal ports to go on 24/7 operations absent Federal pre-emption at the Presidential level.

13/

The issue of California air pollution regulation as a limiting factor has not been a consideration in the only plan I've seen to realistically address the SoCal port congestion by @man_integrated .

14/

https://twitter.com/man_integrated/status/1447267522378706950

So, how do we move beyond 'problem admiration' to problem solutions?

Rerouting ship container traffic from SoCal to Pacific Northwest ports and then sending container trains _SOUTH_ & then east
searates.com/blog/post/top-…
15/

...from California has to happen for the next two years, minimally.

Increasing the Oakland container port capacity won't work short term for the same CARB regulatory reasons.

Besides, the cranes & dredging required for 80K ton container ships for Oakland are multiyear...

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...investments. They won't happen soon enough.

Mid-term term, using electric vehicle semi-trucks in SoCal ports & from those ports to the California border can put the SoCal ports on a multi-shift basis.

But that too is a multi-year solution.

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The only real short term solution is going to be increased supply chain productivity & add more labor outside the intermodal container ports in a COVID-19 environment.

The Fed/state gov'ts will have to bend their policy necks on stimulus, vax mandates, & air pollution...

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...to get those bodies on-board.

This will require Fed/State/Corp/Private leadership concerned about the public good and not short term power/money interests.

/End