Economics

Vanishing Ships Underscore Supply Woe: Crisis Peak Is a Mirage

  • CEO sees return to normal as an 18- to 24-month transition
  • Air, truck and ocean freight rates are still soaring
Container ships moored off the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports in California, in October.Photographer: Tim Rue/Bloomberg
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A line of more than 80 container ships waiting to dock at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, was cut in half in late November -- or so it seemed. Turns out the vessels disappearing from the queue were merely hiding from it, loitering in the Pacific out of reach of the official count.