You'd Better Be Prepared for the Perfect Transportation Storm
We've all heard of the game
Loaded ships are still waiting off the coast of California because there aren't enough trucks that meet the state's emission standards to unload them — and it's going to get worse in 2023, when more rules kick in. The ports are choked with cargo containers while perishables spoil and store shelves run empty. It's a government-created problem. What is the government's solution? Mandate that port employees work overtime loading the trucks that aren't there. It's government problem-solving 101.
The airline industry is plagued with cancelations and late flights. And it's not because of climate change (bad weather) or mechanical failures. It's because they don't have enough pilots. When we tried to control a virus by closing the country, pilots retired, others refused to comply with the vaccine mandate and were fired, and some unknown number took the vax and found they could no longer pass their physicals.
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But the deadliest transportation storm front is the approaching railroad strike. The Biden administration averted a strike in September by brokering a last-minute deal with the railroad unions. Now Joe and Pete just need all 12 of the unions to approve the deal to avoid a strike — by November 19. There's just one problem. It's an "all or none" situation, and two unions have already rejected the deal.
If the deal falls through, 33 million tons of cargo per week will not be delivered. That's a lot of baby formula and toilet paper. Factories will close, store shelves will run empty, power plants will go offline, and construction will stop. Joe's administration is lining up alternatives to trains if the railroads shut down. They assure us that if they fumble this — and they may — we'll just ship everything by truck. But there's a problem with that also. It would take an additional 460,000 trucks to move the freight that trains move. Bumper to bumper, that number of trucks would stretch across America — twice. It may take Freightliner a few days to crank those out.