News

December 9, 2021

By Sharon Bernstein and Nathan Frandino

ESCALON, Calif., Dec 9 (Reuters) – The shrink-wrapped boxes of fresh California walnuts stacked almost to the ceiling in Don Barton’s California packing facility should be headed to Europe for holiday baking and to Asia for New Year celebrations.

Instead, newly cleaned and shelled nuts – about $10 million worth – are stuck at his processing plant near Sacramento, thousands of miles from their destinations, as the global supply chain crisis squeezes ports.

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“We are shipping right now less than half of what we should be shipping and could be shipping this time of the year, simply because there’s not equipment available,” said Barton, standing amid towering processing machinery and pallets loaded with boxes marked for shipment abroad.

Ships are also skipping the Northwest Seaport complex in Seattle and Tacoma where hay, apples and beans wait to be exported. At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, freighters wait for weeks for a berth in the harbor, only to then leave abruptly, in many cases without picking up goods for export.

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The demand for imports overwhelmed supply chains and prompted container shipping lines to focus on the most profitable routes between China and the Port of Los Angeles, skipping others.

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Particularly impacted, he said, are shipments bound for Europe, Latin America and parts of Asia outside of China.