In the first week of 2022, we wanted to take a quick look back at 2021 to recap some of the biggest stories of the year.

Suez Stuck 

The beginning of the year was somewhat uneventful as people began to believe that we may be getting back to normal after a very difficult 2020. However, in March we received our first major blow that threw the industry into a panic. After being stuck for less than a week the Evergiven caused massive delays around the globe and caused major economic impacts. The short blockage caused so many issues, many experts say that it is still contributing to equipment shortages and high rates today. – more details covered in the New York Times

Strikes and Shutdowns

Two major delays that affected key transportation infrastructure in 2021 were labour strikes, and port shutdowns. In a year still largely defined by COVID-19, one of the major recurring stories of the year were port shutdowns caused by virus outbreaks. Several ports were forced to partially or completely shut down due to confirmed cases among workers. Meanwhile, the pandemics exposure of major social issues also gave way to a series of strikes from workers unions in everything from manufacturing to tech to transportation. 

BC’s Double Dose of Catastrophe 

This year Canada’s west coast was hit by two separate devastating natural disasters. Over the summer, several areas of BC were continuously plagued by wildfires that caused massive evacuation efforts and millions of dollars of property damage. Unfortunately, there was barely any reprieve for the hardest-hit communities as not long after, waves of flooding struck areas of BC creating more evacuation orders and causing more damage. Certain key infrastructure damaged by the floods took weeks to repair and once again cut off access to a large swath of the country. – We covered more on this in our Dec. 8th post on BC Flooding.

Vaccine Rollout 

One of the positive stories of the year has been the world’s effort to combat the COVID-19 virus through vaccination. In late 2020 and early 2021, several vaccines were approved around the world, and deployment efforts began to inoculate as many people as possible in order to stem the spread of the virus. To date over 9 billion doses of vaccines have been administered globally and millions more are being added to the total every day. – We covered more on this in our Dec. 13th post Crossborder Vaccine Pushback.

Carrots vs Sticks to Move Containers

At the two busiest ports in North America, LA and Long Beach, a wide variety of measures are being taken to ease the congestion that has been plaguing the ports for the last few months. In late October the two ports announced that they would be instituting $100 a day, escalating late fees for containers waiting in the ports longer than necessary. Though the ports have now delayed the implementation of the fees for the third time, it seems as though the threat of the fees may have had a helping hand in reducing the number of containers waiting more than 13 days from 31,500 to 14,309 over the last month. Meanwhile, ocean carrier CMA CGM has taken a different approach to reducing the backlog. The company has announced a new incentive for importers in order to entice more early pickups. For containers moving into the LA and Long Beach ports, the company will now give a credit to importers who pick up their cargo within the first 8 days after arrival. Importers who pick up early during the week will receive $100, and those who pick up on nights or weekends will receive $200. With rates being as high as they are right now, its unclear if $100-200 will be enough to speed up the movement of containers, but the hope is that the credit will help get more cargo through the port quickly.  We’ll fill you in on more details next week’s post.

Port of Vancouver Strike Looms

As if there weren’t enough stress in B.C already, on Monday unions for two carriers serving the port of Vancouver issued a 72-hour strike notice. The union represents roughly 200 drivers, about 10% of the ports drivers, from two companies:  Aheer and Prudential Transportation. The drivers are threatening to strike after talks fell through with the two employers around implementing a collective agreement in line with the one reached by Harbor Link Transportation earlier this year. Though the unions are seeking “fairness across the sector” it’s unlikely that a full-on strike will occur. Given the dire situation already occurring at the port, it’s very likely that the government will step in to prevent any further delays. 

You can read more about the possible strike HERE.