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Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

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Re: Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

#211

Post by davidjfelix »

wenc wrote: post #208
davidjfelix wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't say it's weird -- it seems like you understood what he was saying and he misspoke. Clearly he was trying to indicate that he believed that something negative was increasing. While I agree this isn't what a negative feedback loop is, I can see how saying this is a positive feedback loop of slowdowns (an undesirable negative effect) might feel like the wrong thing to say.

A positive feedback loop in this instance means more and more of something happening, and is being reinforced in every iteration. In control theory, the language of positive/negative in feedback loops usually means growth/diminution rather than good/bad. It’s seemingly counter to common intuition but as a former control theorist I immediately recognized this language in the context of feedback loops.

I'm not arguing that what he said was correct nor saying that I don't know which is which. I think it's weird that we're nitpicking something that was pretty obviously miscommunicated rather than the content.

Re: Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

#212

Post by voakbasda »

patentatt wrote: post #206
ta988 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you load them on rail car? If there was a working railroad system connected to the docks maybe. A working railroad system would solve a lot of issues in the US. But it is impossible to get a discussion on infrastructure as it gets abused by both sides only for political reasons.

Wait, are there not rail heads at shipping ports? As a complete layperson, I would have assumed that’s like the one thing a shipping port needs, right?

Indeed, rail lines seem like they would help. But then I think of the Teamsters and Longshoreman unions, and I expect the status quo favors trucks.

Re: Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

#213

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

bsder wrote: post #105
riskneutral wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Erm, then pay some truckers to haul empty containers to some space in the middle of Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Idaho, Iowa, etc.? The empty containers don't need to be trucked to Arizona, they need to be shipped back to China so that they can be filled with more goods and shipped back to LA. There are fewer goods flowing from the US to China though, so they are piling up in LA. Either the price of shipping from US to…

> Either the price of shipping from US to China has to fall so much that it becomes profitable to ship all these containers back completely empty, or the government has to subsidize the shipping cost What's happening is that everybody is playing chicken waiting for somebody else to blink and foot the bill for the fact that everything is out of whack. Why should the government break this logjam instead of the companie…

Did you not read the entire thread above your post?

The issue seems to be a combination of factors exacerbated by the state of california.

Existing regs restricting storage space. Existing regs restricting available trucking stuck holding containers Existing regs disincentivizing labor or new owner operators.

All this is compounded it seems, by existing contracts limiting pay wait time.

So when wait time increases, due to 1)no space, (2)no trucks, and (3) no labor... mostly due to circumstances directly attributable to the state then nothing moves.

Where are the corporations making money off this ? Can you name them?

Re: Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

#214

Post by voakbasda »

thesimp wrote: post #200
graton wrote: post #60

Related: The mayor of Long Beach has increased the stacking limit. https://mobile.twitter.com/RobertGarcia/status/1451679404757...

Wait what? They are/were only stacking 2 containers high? When I google on how another big port is doing it, or example Rotterdam, I get a 5 year old video of 5 high stacks and a fully automated system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Fz5gZRX9c . What's going on in Long Beach?

The rich have disproportionate control of government?

Re: Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

#215

Post by gotoeleven »

afuchs wrote: post #104
hammock wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Owner-operators are actually not completely allowed in California. And trucks for the most part must be very new to comply with California emissions requirements. The "labor shortage" is in part aggravated by these regulations. >Danielle Inman, a spokesperson for the National Retail Foundation, which has lobbied for California to overturn AB 5, told PolitiFact that the state’s regulations on trucking impact the avail…

> Owner-operators are actually not completely allowed in California. And trucks for the most part must be very new to comply with California emissions requirements. The "labor shortage" is in part aggravated by these regulations. ... Both of these claims have been disputed by fact checking organizations: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/oct/19/facebook-p...

This is one of those nonsense fact checks that they roll out when something is true but people who love government interventionism wish wasn't. Their conclusions don't make any sense.

They have two points: The contractor ban is currently under injunction in court so why would that affect anyone's behavior. Well, but people do change their behavior when something becomes a legal grey area. And being an owner-operator in CA is not clearly legal anymore, so why risk it? If you're a company that wants to do shipping in CA, does your plan include using owner-operators now? It takes a high level of asinine pollyanna-ism to not be able to think for one second why this might have a substantial effect on shippers.

The second point, that the "truck ban" is not at fault is also total nonsense. First they say "oh the law has been in effect since 2008" well according to their own link, [1] it is loaded with ramp-ups in the emmissions requirements. As time passes the requirements increase. As of now nearly all of the most stringent requirements are in place.

So besides citing the law which doesnt make much of a case for their argument, they then quote a partisan who loves the law to say there's no evidence that this law is affecting anything.

And then they take this pile of nonsense to claim it is mostly false, ending with this non-sequitur: "The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread layoffs and factory closures that haven’t yet bounced back to meet the surging consumer demand. "

The ports are full of fucking containers you fucking nitwits! Full of containers filled by workers working at factories! How could this have any bearing on the port issue?

Politifact is a total joke. They're clearly being paid to give cover to whatever their paymasters want.

[1] https://www.buswestpreowned.com/carb-truck-bus-rule#:~:text=....

Re: Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

#216

Post by mcrae »

jliptzin wrote: post #192
graton wrote: post #60

Related: The mayor of Long Beach has increased the stacking limit. https://mobile.twitter.com/RobertGarcia/status/1451679404757...

What is the reason for limiting it to 2 when clearly it can be 4 or 5?

The area around the port of long beach is rather dense residential, so in order to preserve views the city limited the height of container stacks.

> "These provisions, which have been in effect for many years, were established to address the visual impact to surrounding areas of sites with excessive storage."

https://longbeach.gov/press-releases/city-of-long-beach-stat...

Re: Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

#217

Post by atq2119 »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #213
bsder wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Either the price of shipping from US to China has to fall so much that it becomes profitable to ship all these containers back completely empty, or the government has to subsidize the shipping cost What's happening is that everybody is playing chicken waiting for somebody else to blink and foot the bill for the fact that everything is out of whack. Why should the government break this logjam instead of the companie…

Did you not read the entire thread above your post? The issue seems to be a combination of factors exacerbated by the state of california. Existing regs restricting storage space. Existing regs restricting available trucking stuck holding containers Existing regs disincentivizing labor or new owner operators. All this is compounded it seems, by existing contracts limiting pay wait time. So when wait time increases, d…

The legal environment is not new to the companies operating in it. Nothing in that environment prevented them from preparing properly, yet they didn't.

Example for why your argument doesn't hold water: one of the issues mentioned in the thread is that trucking companies can only stack containers two high in their yards. Well, what do you think would have happened if that regulation had been changed to six high (one of the suggestions) 20 years ago? Trucking companies would now own or lease smaller yards!

GP is absolutely right that the capitalists need to foot the bill of clearing this mess.

It does seem to me that government should step in to resolve the Gordic knot of coordination problems discussed elsewhere in the thread, but the companies who screwed it up in the first place need to be stuck with the bill. That's part of the deal of capitalism: you get the chance of profits, but also the risk of losses.

Re: Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

#218

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

digikata wrote: post #68
AngryData wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can cargo ships with empty containers actually sail back? In the past we shipped tons of alfalfa to China, partially because meat (and thus cow feed) is worth more in China, but I was under the impression that the main purpose was ballast for the ships because they can't sail without enough weight in them and alfalfa was the cheapest bulk weight they could source.

I know little about ship operations - but what is ballasting them when they’re sailing away now without empty containers?

Completely empty with no cargo? The ship itself is designed to be stable under nominal conditions. Also, remember that fuel is heavy and part of the load & balance equation. Carrying empty containers or with minimal cargo, or depending on cargo distribution, ballast tanks can be filled to get the center of gravity in the right place.

Re: Flexport CEO on how to fix the US supply chain crisis

#219

Post by s1artibartfast »

gotoeleven wrote: post #215
afuchs wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Owner-operators are actually not completely allowed in California. And trucks for the most part must be very new to comply with California emissions requirements. The "labor shortage" is in part aggravated by these regulations. ... Both of these claims have been disputed by fact checking organizations: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/oct/19/facebook-p...

This is one of those nonsense fact checks that they roll out when something is true but people who love government interventionism wish wasn't. Their conclusions don't make any sense. They have two points: The contractor ban is currently under injunction in court so why would that affect anyone's behavior. Well, but people do change their behavior when something becomes a legal grey area. And being an owner-operator…

I agree with everything you said except the unsubstantiated quid pro quo argument. In politics people seem very quick to, “ follow the money", but people have political bias he's outside of this and agendas.
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