In yet another "there's nothing to see here" move, the White House insists supply chain bottlenecks are easing, just as dock workers in California shut down two major ports amid an ongoing contract dispute.
First it was the Port of Oakland, then Long Beach, forcing container ships to head to ports along the Gulf and East Coast.
"Right now most of the goods that are coming into the West Coast are geared toward retail for the most part, and they are all preparing for the back-to-school and holiday seasons. The impacts are going to be minor in the short-term, but if this continues you'll start to see disruptions further along," says Pawan Joshi with North Texas-based E2open.
Retailers and manufacturers are urging the White House to step in as it did with rail workers last year.
Joshi says if these hiccups continue, consumers can expect to pay more for back-to-school supplies and holiday items to make up the difference.
"Right now it is still sporadic, I think there's still enough capacity in the supply chain to recover from it and not see a large impact," he says.
"But we may see some impact, not in terms of shortages, but in terms of price increases as we're dealing with bleeding down the backup that is going to happen at these ports."
Photo: AFP