Snarled Supply Chain Is Making U.S. Warehouse Shortage Worse

  • Landlords Blackstone and Prologis are winners as rents soar
  • With no space, goods sit on docks, crews work in parking lots
Warehouses in the area known as the Inland Empire in Redlands, Calif.Photographer: Roger Kisby/Bloomberg
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Record numbers of cargo ships bob in the waters off Southern California, unable to unload. A late shipment of patio furniture gets moved -- three times -- before finding a home for the winter. With no warehouse space, a crew assembles holiday displays in a parking lot in an effort to get them to clients on time.

It’s all fallout from the global supply-chain crisis that’s clogging U.S. ports, pushing warehouses to capacity and forcing logistics managers to scramble for space. And it’s making already scarce warehouse space even more valuable.