Domestic supply chains brace for impact as Shanghai factories restart production

After some of the world’s most strict lockdown orders were enacted in Shanghai over a month ago, factories are finally starting to reopen in China’s most populous city. As the home of the world’s largest port and production facilities for everything from automobiles to microchips, most would consider this a good thing, however the implications of a mad rush of production resumption could actually increase both global and American domestic supply chain disruption, at least in the short term.

Ports on the West Coast like Los Angeles and Long Beach have been struggling with congestion and worker shortages for months — but they are also the primary handlers of incoming cargo from China. With them likely to see a sudden influx of deliveries as Shanghai’s production resumes, it’s only a matter of time before we see a return to the extended delays of last year that they have so recently begun recovering from.

As with the labor shortage at the ports themselves, the country also lacks enough truckers — 80,000 at last count — to move cargo once it’s finally unloaded. Put together this means that both full and empty shipping containers can’t be moved fast enough to allow incoming ships to unload. This has already brought on longer offshore wait times, and the new shipments soon to begin arriving from China now place an even greater challenge on the horizon. 

While there’s no ignoring the challenge, with a strong network of carriers and improved visibility into your supply chain, it’s possible to prevent these issues from derailing your supply chain. 

Through access to Shipwell’s nationwide network of premium carriers and integrations with leading digital freight networks, shippers can always uncover the best carrier options available to move their cargo. 

Our platform enables shippers to uncover opportunities for increased efficiency while reducing the number of carriers required to move shipments through automated guidance on consolidation, efficient routing and more. And with support for modes from drayage and FTL, to LTL and parcel, you’re covered from port to final destination. 

To help further support disruption-free shipments, the Shipwell platform also continuously monitors all shipments throughout the shipment lifecycle from a central location through Compass Dashboard. By proactively identifying issues and providing guided actions to address them instantly through machine learning and AI, shippers can see a 98% on-time delivery and pickup rate.

From the pandemic and global conflict to staff shortages and environmental disruptions, the global supply chain has been hit by an unprecedented number of challenges over the past years. To learn more about how Shipwell can help you to keep yours on track no matter what comes next, schedule a demo today.