Amazon’s global workforce surged almost 75% during the pandemic to help keep up with torrid demand, and the e-commerce giant is still facing shortages of workers, particularly in the U.S.
The pileup is the latest logistical knot in global supply chains, with satellite shipping data allowing for real-time monitoring of port issues globally.
The world’s largest shipping line expects shipping markets to remain tight at least into the first quarter with global container demand set to grow faster than previously expected.
Federal Reserve officials meet this week as consumers and companies fret the U.S. economy is facing the most widespread supply crunch since the oil crisis of 1973.
With a near-record 75 container ships waiting outside the U.S.’s largest port complex in southern California, unionized dockworkers have strengthened their indispensable role in the supply chain.
Amazon warned Wall Street that it will have to spend billions of dollars hiring workers, paying them more and even speeding partly empty trucks to their destinations to ensure that supply chain snarls don’t derail the holiday shopping season.