Shipping bottlenecks within and outside the U.S. are causing delivery delays affecting retailers, distributors and manufacturers, reports USA Today. Shipping costs have increased as much as 150%. The newspaper reports that shipping problems began earlier this year and are expected to increase during the fall and holiday seasons.
During the recession as sales slowed shipping, air cargo and trucking companies reduced capacity and lowered prices. As demand has increased these companies did not increase capacity which has lead to shipping delays. The newspaper said the biggest delays have been for ocean shipments of goods produced in Asia.
A study conducted by the American Trucking Associations projects that by 2021 total freight tonnage will grow 25% and total freight transportation revenue will increase 69%. The study found that in 2009 the country’s freight pool decreased by almost 12.5%. The “ATA U.S. Freight Transportation Forecast to 2021” also includes information about other transportation modes, including rail, domestic water and domestic air. Air cargo tonnage is expected to increase from 11.7 million tons in 2009 to 18.4 million tons in 2021. Railroad’s total tonnage is projected to decrease slightly from 14.7% in 2009 to 14.1% in 2021.
Pictured: Transportation costs are expected to increase this year due to shipping companies not increasing capacity to handle increased demand.