Counting the Crunched Cargo Container Ships

Many floating behemoths sit in the San Francisco Bay before my eyes, not docked. I see the same cargo company names and at first thought they were coming and going, but no. They have come and are sitting idle. One of my colleagues told me that his wife is in the wine shipping business and they have a ton of wine sitting out in the Bay. T’would be a rewarding time to be a pirate! (Oh my goodness, no. I kid! I would never!)

The ones I see the most: MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company–home headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland), Hapag Lloyd (a global organization originating in Hamburg, Germany), For several months, a continuing back-up of ships await the California ports to allow them to dock. A backlog holds everything up because the pandemic has caused everyone who can to buy a lot of things. Many if not most of the things come from overseas and those things are sitting on ships that if one could boat over or swim to in order to pick up one’s goods, one would. (Or so say the business owners who await their stock.)

Here is one story from freightwaves.

Here is another.

The ongoing 5th grader who lives inside of me giggled at this next bit:

Reefer Cargo? TeeHee

SO, in case you’re waiting for something in California, now you know why. That is all.