As we continue to deal with increasing costs at every level - from raw materials to finished product - it is, we feel, important to talk about why this is happening. Our goal in talking about this is to keep everyone in the loop, and allow you to talk to your customers as well. 

By informing customers, we can not only manage expectations, but also better plan for how we need to respond. In the below video, 60 Minutes takes a brief look at the situation. They miss some points, but then it is only a single 13 minute or so long segment.

I think the important point here is that there is no one root cause of the problem. If cargo wasn't jammed here, it would be piled up waiting to ship there - and the same end condition results.

In airplane crash investigations, there is a term for one problem causing others, which cause others, etc. The term is 'cascade failure', and that is a pretty decent description of what we have here. In this case, however, the first visible cause was the global shutdown last year. That act triggered a cascade of failures that it now seems had just been waiting to happen.

We will get past this. It will just take time and will be challenging. US Trailer will be there with you, and will be your ally and partner as we go through this together.