We are Facing Serious Transportation Challenges Thanks to the Pandemic

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Transportation Challenges - Reasons

In case you have not noticed, we are facing serious transportation challenges right now. I definitely noticed it because a few items I ordered online have had their delivery dates slipping in the last couple of days.

I have suspected that there have been issues in our transportation system. And upon more research I have found that there have been serious problems, especially after the pandemic started in the first half of 2020.

The main reasons are very simply - COVID-19 Pandemic and weather.

The Implications

Because of mandated shutdowns and lockdowns, people were forced to start working from their homes. Most people are not equipped to work from home. They had to start buying supplies and equipments to allow them to perform their works at home.

And all of the sudden everything needed for work was out of stock. I tried for a while after March 2020 to buy a webcam. All the good brands, such as Logitech, were all but sold out. You can still buy them - but their prices were all jacked up by third-party sellers on places like Amazon. This has forced people to turn to questionable and no-name manufactures. This was probably the reason my work provided cheap webcams. I used that until I was finally able to buy a webcam that produces decent video quality for virtual calls.

I also learned that there has been severe contain in transportation capacity since the pandemic started. And this has to do with all the international flights that stopped flying.

All the international flights, whether they are for passenger or cargo, all carry freight. Dedicated cargo flights could carry a lot more than the "belly space" in the lower part of a passenger plane. However, there are a lot more passenger flights than cargo flights. Therefore, when passenger flights stopped because of COVID-19, all the freight that were in airplanes went to ocean shipping.

And you guessed it - there are not enough handling capability to digest the increase of ship-borne traffic at the seaports. You can see news articles and photos of ships waiting outside of ports to unload their freights. An email I received from a company I recently ordered from seemed to validate this. The email basically said that there has been delays in their shipments at the local port. They just got the news that it had cleared and would be getting shipments out in a week or so. Well, I guess I am not getting my purchase until two or three weeks after I placed the order.

As I mentioned previously, the weather also compounded the problem we have in transportation. When adding up all the issue in shipping and weather delays, there is a serious problem. And this is not quite a problem that anyone could easily solve.

When Will it Be Over

I am guessing there is not going to be a resolution for transportation challenges until we can open up the society again. More people have to return back to work to handle all the business. And airplanes need to start flying international once again. This will hinge on when all of the people could get their vaccine shots. And before that, if all of the people would comply with safety measures such as wearing masks. Until then, I will be waiting for my packages patiently.