Hundreds of requests for details on the specifics of the container shipping backlog. So, I spent 3 days calling sources, digging for details and gathering information on the substantive issue at hand. The epicenter of the problem is not what is being outlined by financial media, corporate media and politicians who have a specific interest in distracting from the issues at hand. This has nothing to do with COVID-19.
The issues being discussed today relate to events that happened a long time ago. As a matter of fact, it was so predictable that Amazon, Walmart, UPS, FedEx, Samsung, The Home Depot and Target all had taken actions years ago -long before COVID- because they knew this day would come. It was not accidental that those companies showed up at the White House to discuss the issue, because there’s now a full court press to hide it.
There is one very specific regional issue driving the problem. Read on:
The trucking issue with California LA ports, ie the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB), is that all semi tractors have to be current with new California emissions standards. As a consequence, that mean trucks cannot be older than 3 years if they are to pick up or deliver containers at those ports. This issue wipes out approximately half of the fleet trucks used to move containers in/out of the port. Operating the port 24/7 will not cure the issue, because all it does is pile up more containers that sit idle as they await a limited number of trucks to pick them up. THIS is the central issue.
On October 16, 2020, the EPA reached a settlement agreement [DATA HERE] with California Air Resource Board (CARB) to shut down semi tractor rigs that were non-compliant with new California emission standards:
2020 SAN FRANCISCO – “Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced settlements with three interstate trucking companies imposing $417,000 in penalties for violating the California Air Resources Board’s federally enforceable Truck and Bus Regulation, Drayage Truck Regulation and Transport Refrigeration Unit Regulation.
“As trucks are one of the largest sources of air pollution in California, EPA will continue to ensure these heavy-duty vehicles have the needed pollution-control equipment and operate in compliance with the rules,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator John Busterud. “These companies have agreed to bring their trucks into compliance and operate more cleanly in all communities they serve.”
Transportation is a primary contributor to the high levels of air pollutants in Southern California and the Central Valley. Diesel emissions from trucks are one of the state’s largest sources of fine particle pollution, or soot, which is linked to health issues including asthma, impaired lung development in children, and cardiovascular effects in adults. Many of these trucks are older models and emit high amounts of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
[…] California Truck and Bus Regulation and Drayage Truck Regulation have been essential parts of the state’s federally enforceable plan to attain cleaner air. California requires trucking companies to upgrade vehicles they own to meet specific NOx and PM performance standards and to verify compliance of vehicles they hire or dispatch. Heavy-duty diesel trucks in California must meet 2010 engine emissions standards or use diesel particulate filters to reduce the diesel particulates emissions into the atmosphere by 85% or more. (read more)
In effect, what this 2020 determination and settlement created was an inability of half the nation’s truckers from picking up anything from the Port of LA or Port of Long Beach. Virtually all private owner operator trucks and half of the fleet trucks that are used for moving containers across the nation were shut out.
In an effort to offset the problem, transportation companies started using compliant trucks (low emission) to take the products to the California state line, where they could be transferred to non-compliant trucks who cannot enter California. However, the scale of the problem creates an immediate bottleneck that builds over time. It doesn’t matter if the ports start working 24/7, they are only going to end up with even more containers waiting on a limited amount of available trucks.
Yesterday, in an effort to obfuscate and actually hide the epicenter of the issue, the White House put on a performance to provide political cover. In a grand pantomime, Joe Biden met with the heads of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach (Gene Seroka and Mario Cordero, respectively), and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).
The publicized meeting and White House conference was sold as Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg showing actions they are taking to address delays and congestion across the transportation supply chain in Southern California.
As a result of the meeting, the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) announced that it will join the Port of Long Beach (POLB) in expanding to 24/7 operations. POLA will add new off-peak nighttime shifts and weekend hours, nearly doubling its hours of operation. The ILWU said its members are willing to work those extra shifts to add needed labor capacity.
That publicly promoted action event was a complete political farce. No amount of extra productivity in working the docks to off-load ships will solve the issue of trucks that cannot pick up the containers and distribute them toward manufacturing or warehouses.
As I noted, the issue started becoming visible several years ago when the California Air Resource Board (CARB) announced the new environmental regulations. Several massive multinational corporations, with specifically in-tune supply and logistics operations, immediately recognized the issue they would face if 50+ percent of the trucking fleet would be blocked from entering California ports.
Yes, years ago the private sector predicted this would happen, and they started taking actions to protect their supply chains. What these massive corporations did to reduce their exposure to supply chain disruption was to immediately formulate plans to divert their goods to other ports. This was a very expensive shift in supply chain and logistic efforts for these massive corporations, which includes: Amazon, Walmart, UPS, FedEx, Samsung, The Home Depot and Target.
A long time before and during the era of the Trump administration, those massive multinational corporations knew they would need to redirect their import cargo quickly to avoid the bottleneck caused by California’s new emission standards. They began organizing new destination ports for their products and began setting up new hubs and distribution networks to avoid the predictable California port bottlenecks.
Obviously, for politically correct reasons; and in an effort to avoid the woke mob of environmentalist jackboots, the corporations didn’t publicly share any of the issues they could foresee coming – they just worked independently and quietly to avoid the issue.
However, it costs more money to move and entire supply chain for trillions of tons of goods coming. Hence, we saw prices climbing as a result of increased transportation costs being factored in to the new logistics. Did you hear about massive increases in container shipment prices? Well, THAT’S WHY. The entire supply chain from Asia to the United States was being modified from the closest port (California) to the ports where internal transportation would not be an issue.
Ships from China and SE Asia being diverted from California into the Gulf of Mexico or East coast have to go through the Panama Canal. It takes twice as long and costs twice as much, if not more. Hence, massive shipping price increases:
Unfortunately, small companies and small brokers of import goods do not have the control over their part of the supply chain from Asia to the West Coast. They don’t contract for entire cargo ships with thousands of containers. Those wholesalers, brokers and smaller companies that feed raw material and parts supplies to manufacturing and smaller retail outlets are stuck waiting for their containers to get through the trucking issue in California.
The bottleneck at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach run by Gene Seroka and Mario Cordero is not caused by a lack of longshoremen and dock workers to off-load the vessels. The bottleneck is caused by half of the previous trucks used to enter the ports and pick up containers not being allowed. Factually, it doesn’t make a tinkers damn worth of difference if the port works 24/7/365. The ports are simply running out of space.
The ports are running out of places to store containers full of goods that are getting off-loaded. Hundreds of thousands of them are piling up. The central issue is the inability of emission compliant heavy transportation in California to move those containers full of goods to manufacturing, warehouses and distribution points.
This California bottleneck has been building, and building and building for years, until now it has reached a crisis point.
If you want to know how long this has been taking place, take the time to watch this video of a trans-continental shipment belonging to Amazon Inc from China. As you watch this really good discussion, think about how long Amazon Inc. has known about the problem in order for them to have put such a massive solution into place in order to avoid California.
Yeah, this California emissions issue has been identified for years, and Amazon has been planning to avoid it for years. WATCH:
Interesting. I remember listening to an independent trucker on talk radio saying that his rig sits idle in a lot because it was too old to be used anymore based on new ordinances. Cant remember if he was from CA or not, but he was angry because now he would have to go work for a trucking company instead of being his own business to earn a living. I thought it was odd at the time, but now it makes perfect sense. Thanks SD for the article, and illustrating that marxism is at work here.
Is that the “Riding Shotgun “ YouTuber? Love his vids!
Well we wanted sand in the gears. The libs and Biden are doing a fine job of putting sand in the gears for us.
No, buddy, we are paying for what they do. Without a real revolt we will continue to get screwed.
Yeah. But they’re hiding it with a big dose of kabuki theater. I’m sure the narrative will soon blame Donald Trump and the unvaxxed. If it hasn’t already.
And if MAGA were still in charge, corporations would be based in the USA and we wouldn’t have this issue, would we?
Seriously! The situation certainly begs that question, doesn’t it?
I asked that very question on page 2 of these comments.
THANK YOU SUNDANCE!!!! Unbelievable. CA is going to crash and burn even more now. So sad for my friends and loved ones who have refused to move.
It makes sense.
Last I heard, people were saying that it was because “big rigs’ drivers were making too much money transporting illegals across the border.”
Kid you not! ?
So believable! CA is always ahead of the rest of the Blue states with the climate hoax BS. Any truckers out there hear about this?
why have the truckers not shut this damn thing down already???
you know why. They will not STAND until its their turn to have the DAGGER above their heads.
human nature- its how Hitler and Biden are so sucessful and targeting groups 1 by 1 and documenting who is what (for later targeting, without wasting resources now)
Weird and shows how effective communist infiltration in education and media has been that everyone always uses Hitler and the “nazis” as the example of authoritarianism when it was Stalin and Russia that was the successful example. And Barry Soetoro and Biden are classical communist apparatchiks. People even think bankers aren’t part of the communist system!
i agree. I dont remember being taught anything about Nazis or communism. Most of the topics come from the non stop NAZI NAZI NAZI crap by the fake news media during PDJT’s presidency.
Enjoy your ‘clean’ blackouts, and bare shelves this winter.
Missing some of my favorite products in the local Jewel.
Bought a can of carrots to doctor soups etc…checked the label. There are no, I mean none, zero zip nada, nutritional value in a can of carrots. No Vitamin A listed. Check your labels.
Pics?
Not to be funny but I could see one way around this particular mess.
I am quite sure the California National Guard has means of moving containers like those and to assist if needed. Their trucks are not subject to quite the same emissions controls either.
Might have worked too if the recall went without a hitch, but that is not what happened as we know.
right but they dont want that.
they need DISASTER this November – Feb.
—
or, they could simply DROP the Trucker rule, temporarily if need be, to supply ITS OWN COUNTRY during this “emergency”
I would not count on any sensible thing being done there with the stranglehold that the regressives have on that State.
You are quite right. Chaos is the name of the game. Creates opportunities for more of their ideas to be implemented.
Yes they are.
Last I knew military equipment was waived from meeting most of those emissions standards due to military necessity and for reasons of National Security per the DoD.
Does this not apply to California?
Nope. Early 90’s we needed a permit to run a diesel generator.
I know for a fact that the USMC has that capability. Mostly in Okinawa and Guam.
What I’d like to know is has the “air quality” gotten any better? Used to live just outside L.A. Way back when, all my children were born in So.Ca. and they are all over 60 now. One still lives in CA and the air quality is no better than it was when he was a kid….according to him.
Hard to tell with all the smoke from the many fires!
the design is to remove the free worker – the freedom company .
—
2020 Covid – removed small business (all but the strongest survived)
2022 Vaccine mandate – removed big business of Free minded thinking people.
—
Anyone have the video from the city guy explaining how 2020 covid was just to take our the small businesses so in 2021 we had no where to run to when the mandates started.
Agree. They don’t want people who think for themselves…..
A lot of California’s air quality problems come from … China. I just know there is a lesson in here somewhere.
The first article is from 2010, the second from 2017.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-CJB-12022
https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/environmental-issues/about-29-of-san-franciscos-pollution-comes-from-china-42334/
The CCP makes its own people suffer terrible air pollution. They never consider human health, because they are inhuman, as all Communists must be.
our manufacturing has been regulated nearly out of existence and we rely completely on asia for key raw materials. Thank every politician
forgot to add business also…..politicians didn’t didn’t do it alone I don’t think. They had help. And.. The air quality in CA has been poor since I was a child…..and I’m well over 80.
Which President declared China a ‘favored nation’ anyhow? And, and, and, are they (CA) still allowing the trucks to arrive from Mexico?
Jimmy Carter – who else?
Thought it might have been clinton for some reason. Thanks for your answer.
The numbers are boggling – the amount of containers, the number of container ships, the cost per container to ship it ($17K avg. per the bottom video).
When does all that shipping cost, cost of logistics, and port infrastructure come close to the cost of simply mfg. in the USA?
I just drove from LA to southwestern Colorado and back again. I have never seen so many freight trains traversing the major rail lines from and to the Ports of LA and Long Beach. Huge, two-mile-long trains, being pulled and pushed by four to six locomotives. Many trains are hauling truck trailers as well as multi-modal (ships, trains, tractor trailers) cargo containers.
I also stopped at a gas station in Arizona, along a very sparsely populated and serviced stretch of Interstate 40, that was charging well over $6 per gallon, including regular unleaded. You read that right.
…want to guess whom is at the m-ist buffet line, enjoying that rr plan?
Is reopening our borders part of the solution?
Thank you Sundance. An analysis that makes sense and connects the dots.
COVID never made sense as an excuse.
So all the talking head business experts couldn’t \wouldn’t do what Sundance just did. Report the facts.
F our media .
Yes ! Thank you Sundance.
What about the railroads?
Sundance,
Thanks much for digging into this.
This nonsense settlement occurred while Trump was still president. The difference is, I bet President Trump would be taking action against California for the disruption their environmental follies are causing the rest of the nation.
Trump I hearted the settlement process.
This is why I make financial contributions to CTH.
As California goes,
so goes Christmas.
Thank you for this information, Sundance.
Hey, ship captains, come to Texas and Florida. We’ll unload you!
Port Corpus Christi being expanded now. 3rd largest port in USA. After $1 billion expansion it will be largest.
Any ideas as to Galveston’s backup?
Here’s a tweet that SD had retweeted before Twitter jail.
https://mobile.twitter.com/REMASCULATE/status/1447341194896449537
Just to expand this to the school board. CA diesel regulations shut down majority of buses in school districts. Elk Grove Unified had a fleet of buses shuddered because regulations required a $14K kit to each with a total of 1.5 million to bring in compliance. Result parents forced to transport kids to school clogging roads. 2000 kids 1500 cars per each school (over 100 in the district) 150K more cars on the road twice a day. Over 75 million car trips annually in just ONE district.
Whatever particulates CARB was trying to reduce was put back, tires, fluids, time on cat converters. A handful of people with NO understanding what their decisions create are controlling and inconveniencing our lives.
Don’t worry, the EPA stepped in in Apr 2021 and gave them money to upgrade their fleet to electric busses.
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-awards-105-million-cut-us-school-bus-emissions-replace-california-diesel-buses
So, in the end, we *all* bailed out CA for their regulatory nonsense.
Thank you once again Sundance! Awesome explanation of the Cali port situation. So Cali lawmakers did it to themselves. Who would have figured. But hey must be Trump’s fault! NOT!
Instead of ‘claiming to build a train to nowhere’, why doesn’t CA build a train to transport the shipping containers to the edge of CA? Oh, that would be asking democrats to exert initiative to solve the problem they created… nevermind.
Because the train to nowhere starts in the Central Valley, well north of LA.
Btw they’re still building it.
With each passing day, it is becoming abundantly clear that the ENTIRE federal government is now a criminal cartel working AGAINST the interest of the American people…
…Historically…at this juncture…the people have two choices. (1) Allow themselves to becomes slaves to a ruling elite. (2) Fight like hell, storm the palace and take things back.
VOTING OR RELYING ON THE “JUSTICE SYSTEM” WON’T FIX THIS!!!
And if we still have those containers sitting out there after a month, you damn well know China Joe is going to blame Fed Ex and UPS. That is how Communists operate. What I don’t get is that most of the junk sitting on those containers are things made in China. The longer they sit out there, the less the manufacturers in China can remain open. They can’t continue to make things if they aren’t selling. Why isn’t China bitching right about now.
No, he will still blame Trump. Can’t accept responsibility, none of them can.
China is not complaining because the mfg is “stalled a bit.”
The energy issue means that factories are only operating a couple days/week. There is less being produced, so there is wiggle room on their end.
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/beijing-liberalizes-coal-fired-power-prices-combat-energy-crunch
For the fourth quarter, Citic Securities analysts told clients, China faces a gap of 30 million to 40 million tons of coal. This translates into reducing industrial power use by 10% to 15% in November and December. UBS Group AG said this would result in a 30% slowdown in activity in energy-intensive industries like steel, chemicals, and cement-making.
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/china-coal-futures-hit-record-high-mines-flood-worsening-power-shortages-hit-rust-belt
As reported by Reuters, China coal prices held near record highs on Thursday as cold weather swept into the country’s north and power plants stocked up on the fuel to ease an energy crunch that is fueling unprecedented factory gate inflation.
An increasingly concerning power crisis in China –caused primarily by shortages of coal and gas due to a record cold winter of 2020-21 which depleted supplies– has halted production at numerous factories, including many supplying big global brands such as Apple.
https://electroverse.net/feet-of-snow-hit-the-rocky-mountains-coldest-early-oct-day-strikes-seattle-as-historic-cold-keeps-coal-prices-high/
Sundance,
Thank you for connecting the dots.
The work around of an organized initial ‘short haul’ only, by 3 yr. old trucks or newer,
from Ca. Pacific port to CA. / Nv. – Az. state line
and
then the long haul trucks could transport from the State line proximity to other warehouses in the U.S.
[ i.e. keep the new trucks, trucking on the relatively short, intrastate hauls, instead of booking them for cross country, interstate deliveries. ]
[ but that could only work with an administration that wanted to truly help the U.S.,
without $elfishly $eeking / coer$ing a handout.
One can understand why others sought out and created other methods and means as work arounds to the Ca. miss policies …. ]
imho
I do not know
Love thy neighbors
This is the leftist/marxist/investment bankers regime at work. They want to destroy our economy so that we will become dependent on government handouts. The bankers then live at the top of the world pyramid. They control it without any sort of opposition from the peasants, i.e. us.
Forgot to thank Sundance. Thanks buddy. Now for the revolution.FJB.
CARB is one of the most powerful state agencies anywhere. EPA follows CARB’s lead on truck pollution issues.
Trucks built since 1997 have a computer on the engine that regulates fuel flow hence not much black smoke.
Diesel engined trucks built since 2010 have diesel particulate filters on them to control particulate matter emitted by the engine. Diesel exhaust fluid is now required in all trucks to keep those filters clean. Diesel engines used to be less than 29% of the cost of a truck. Thanks to CARB, that percentage has now gone to 35% or more.
one used to be able to buy a new truck for $70k, now, they are close to twice that amount.
Is it any wonder one sees older trucks on our nation’s highways smokin their way down the road?
29% should be 20%.
Clearly their grasp of economic theory is limited to sticking it to the rich guy, cause he can apparently afford it.
There are always opportunity costs, to say nothing of the relation between capital and labor.
I forgot to mention that 2010 motors burned clean enough that you could almost breathe the exhaust.
It’s payday for the longshoremen. They’ll now be getting time-and-a-half and double-time $$$ to stack the containers higher in the ports because the President and Transportation Secretary needed to make political hay…another $tab to be paid by the middle class.
The Green New Steal along with the Old Election Steal is now coming to fruit with the Communist Democrat and controlled opposition RINO elites.
I hope all these diehard (my parents were a Democrat and I will die a Democrat) Democrat Communist, useful idiots, who voted for these incompetent imbeciles enjoy the empty shelves. They will certainly be “clean”. Oh yeah, I forgot, at least it’s not Trump or his mean tweets. FJB
Just like vackseen mandates are, in effect, Obamacare by another means, this kind of environmental regulation is literally the Green New Deal by another means. These ‘policymakers’ should be made to personally foot the bill for these built-in cost factors.
Gruesome Newsom doesn’t drive a Nissan Leaf, I’ll wager.
While the (U.S.) Congress may have difficulty passing the GND on a national level, it’s “Federalism” gone bad when CA, the 5th-largest economy in the world, gets to implement it. And the rest of the country has no choice about it. The vultures just wouldn’t allow Newsom to be removed from office.
I was about to say “send it to Portland” or “reroute to Seattle”…but OR and WA could be just as bad as CA wrt enviro regulation.
Texas?
Hell, since the Southern Border is wide open, have it all shipped to Mexico and then they could just drive everything up through it. What would be worse at this stage?
Keep in mind the downstream effects of products sitting around too long. When shipping finally catches up you will have new model products and old model stuff still in the system. If our economy goes into recession, consumers won’t be buying either. Eventually products will be dumped or discounted through new companies started just to move all that product and try to recover whatever they can.
This could be good for those able to buy when/if it gets sorted out. Price increases now for shipping and supply issues will be replaced by price drops at some point especially if a fast solution happens and all that product hits the country at once.
Also – I just read this:
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/cave-man-capitalism?r=bacm9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=
California is a literal clear and present danger to the national security of the united states.
National divorce can’t come fast enough.
Read today’s American Thinker article regarding “divorce”
Thank you so much for this cogent analysis. It certainly adds much-needed perspective to the situation.
For those interested where inflation is headed, read Armstrong’s blog.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/economics/inflation-to-rise-into-2034/
My family business in the People’s Republic of California was legally forced by this same nonsense to get rid of two old still-working diesel cargo trucks and buy a new $92.3K diesel cargo truck, which is much more expensive because of the new air emissions standard compliant equipment of course, back in December 2019. Awesome.
The next time you pull up to a semi truck ( class8) or any vocational truck, look for a decal- it’s usually above the left fender or up towards the door post. Its a oval hologram that has the state of California on it.” Certified Clean Idle.” All trucks sold in North America must have it. This began in 2010 and continues today and into the future. Around 2014 IIRC a diesel exhaust fluid system was introduced with a separate tank. This DEF is injected into the downstream exhaust to reduce nitrous oxide emmissions. This combined with particulate filters and regeneration system added about $10k to the cost of a truck. So you can see why owners of older trucks are reluctant to turn over their fleets. Add in the Unions lobbying the state/ports to refuse entry to the ports of any truck that is not Certified Clean Idle in order to knock out the competition weve got the perfect storm for backlogs to get loaded. Oh, that decal? If its damaged ,say in an accident it MUST be replaced as its serial numbered. Cost last time I heard was about $800.00. Woe be unto you if you get pulled into a scale house ( chicken coop)and get an inspection without that sticker. And if you go into California without that sticker you’ll get in less trouble if you muder some one. What they want is a clean air machine going down the road. What comes out the exhaust is cleaner than what went in.
It is said that when a certified clean idle truck enters and leaves california, the air is cleaner once the truck leaves.
Was obvious free economies do not have this problem.
Knew there had to be government regulation in there somewhere.
Just surprised it happened under Trump.
This CARB crap started long before Trump.
Same guy in this vid (has the shipping blog), doesn’t mention anything about the EPA regs hindering the truckers in his blog post yesterday?
This is interesting as I heard on the news or a talk program today that one of the problems was shortage of truck drivers. I wondered how that could be…who ever heard of a shortage of truck drivers….so, really that is just another way of obfuscating the real problem. There are truck drivers who have trucks but can’t get to work because of the environmental issues. Too much.
Cloward and Piven wasn’t enough… Democrat communists are finding new ways to bankrupt this country.
it’s all being done on purpose.
Thank you for this very interesting insight for a lay person. I really believe, that because of the money involved, there will be some innovative work-arounds, including the one discussed here with Amazon. We live in very strange times where many forms of self destruction on a national level are engaged in and millions of Americans willing go along with the obvious insanity of it all. The power of propaganda should never be underestimated.
Green Port Gateway Rail Project and Super Trains. I presume rail still moves a lot of doublestack out of the port. Rail is far more efficient at moving goods, especially long distances.
Are the yard tugs (one is seen at the beginning of that Amazon shipping video) and container handlers (basically a huge forklift) that never leave the premises Tier 4 compliant? As much as those are run they’d likely be pretty new so likely yes.
I happened to do about 2000 miles up and down California and Oregon last week and definitely saw a lot of trucks, and a lot of Amazon trailers, but practically no intermodal containers like come into port on ships. However, I did see a couple quite long intermodal trains running along the highway.
Suprise suprise.
The Green New California completely wipes out small truckers, how can any but the very largest trucking company afford a new truck every 3 years?
And now I know why Musk was promoting electric self driving trucks. Only makes sense with these government straight jackets. Chinese Taliban batteries and Chinese made electric trucks.
Also conveniently wipes out traditionally conservative working class sector, Limbaugh listening talk back radio truckers.
Damn these people
Electric self driving trucks. Just WOW. Now tell me about the
efficiencyeconomics for electric trucks. Do they plug into a sub-station each day while the windmills are turning?I do not think they could even pass a freshman level thermodynamics course let alone economics.
Oh, you have to plug them in every so many miles, so we will back to slow delivery all over again.
After this, makes sense to me.
In the oil and gas industry, we have been dealing with this crap for 2 decades. Welcome to the party folks.
I have actually had to seek permission to operate a natural gas powered engine, with a permit called an NPR, for an engine size that would power your riding lawnmower.
The real joke is what the acronym NPR stands for. Wait for it, yep, it means No Permit Required. I had to pay around $2500.00 for that designation.
Remember that, when your home heating bill skyrockets this winter.
One example of 100’s.
I would love to hear from our Truckin’ Treepers out there, for “the rest of the story”….and insights on this following aspect of the problem.
Business has their own risk vs threat assessments…the overall ‘threat’ is loss of revenue. The lobbyists and whoever else, long ago identified problems and potential problems and the impact upon the bottom lines (insider political information?). Excellent insights here. Business has a plan for everything.
I heard on Mark Levin, a few nights ago….he had a caller from the trucking industry with contacts in CA and it was mentioned that a big problem is there are not enough chassis for the trucks as many of the containers, in terminals, are sitting on them (chassis) waiting for hook up to a truck. There are no empty chassis available to put a container on, to hook up to trucks to take a container out of the port.
I know of one astute businessman who would have had Ford, CAT, John Deere, Kenworth, etc all turning out this essential product, months ago.