Charleston Ports having hard times keeping up with the number of ships, this is the worst backup of goods in decades

Charleston, South Carolina – While the supply chain issues continue nationwide, the ports in our country have hard times to keep up with the number of ships they see on the ports.

Up until few months ago, Charleston Ports managed to keep up with the increased number of ships at the port, but recently they are seeing huge backups.

From furniture to baby products, a lot of different goods and products are stuck at the Charleston Ports and officials say this is the worst backup of goods in decades.

“By far, this prolonging of this issue is the worst I’ve seen in my 26-year career,” said Phillip Ousley, President ASF Global.

ASF Global moves goods from Asia into South Carolina and they are heavily affected by the current situation at the ports. According to them, they have hundreds of containers just sitting in front of the port.

“As those containers sit, crews charge. They have to get paid. Eventually, all of that rolls down to consumers,” said Phillip Ousley, ASF Global’s president. Ousley said they’ve experienced backups before but nothing like they’re seeing now, which is costing people major bucks.

“Typically in a normal time frame, the backlog may be $10 million. Those guys are eight or nine times that amount right now,” Ousley said.

A decent percentage of the items waiting at the ports are already being sold and people are waiting for those products. Sold items have been pushed back between two and six weeks at a time.

In addition to the increased number of containers, another problem seems to be the winter which is not helping the port authorities at all.

According to the port general manager, they believe that the problem will be solved in the next six weeks as they expect less containers in the upcoming period.

The Charleston Ports problem is a global problem and people are asked to understand there is no easy solution for this, Ousley said. The only thing people can do is be prepared to wait when they decide to buy something, Ousley added.

“Getting upset with retailers is not making it go any faster, trust me. If they could get things in faster, they would because it’s tying up their dollars. They’re suffering the same challenges that we all are,” Ousley said.