As the supply chain crisis persists, homeless Californians have reportedly been breaking into shipping containers.
Railroads are reporting thefts near homeless encampments while trains attempt to deal with a backlog in shipping containers.
Union Pacific railroad said there was a rash of cargo container break-ins as the containers were being hauled by train near downtown Los Angeles, as officials are trying to clear the backlog of cargo at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Thousands of boxes as far as the eye could see were strewn along the railroad tracks near Valley Boulevard and North Mission Road in Lincoln Park in footage captured by NewsChopper4 Monday.
Several container doors were wide open — including a FedEx container with boxes tipping over.
The outlet filmed two people carrying bolt cutters and jumping onto moving trains in an apparent attempt to break into the mounted containers.
Today, nearly eighty ships remain stranded off the coast of California — a symptom of the logistical bottlenecks and labor shortages preventing many consumer goods from reaching American stores. Last month, CBS Los Angeles observed that trucking companies have been dumping empty containers in residential areas:
With the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach now running 24/7 operations, a new problem has occurred. Many of the shipping containers that spent weeks onboard ships waiting to be unloaded are now being dumped in nearby neighborhoods once they’re emptied.
“Right now with the ports and everything that’s going on over there, we’re stuck with the containers, having to bring them all to the yard, and we only have so much space,” explained one trucking executive.
As the supply chain backlogs persisted, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) started offering incentive packages to shipping companies who unload cargo in Florida.
“Year after year we continue to invest in our seaports, in infrastructure and in workforce education to make sure our supply chain is resilient,” DeSantis said at a press conference. “I’m especially proud of Florida’s seaports. They are crown jewels in our state. While other U.S. ports are just now announcing around-the-clock operations, in Florida many of our ports are used to serving Florida farmers, families and businesses with 24 hour operations.”
“As the rest of the nation faces rampant inflation and businesses stare down unprecedented supply chain problems, our message is this: Florida is here, we have capacity, we have incentive packages to help businesses who want to move here and we are going to make sure Americans get their Christmas Gifts this season,” he continued.
Story cited here.
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