Interviewer: Hey, man, what’s all this congestion in Long Beach? Heard you guys were sitting around, not doing anything.
Bodhi: Yeah, man, it’s crazy. At the beginning of the year, everything was chill. It was all smooth sailing. We were going here, going there, plenty of time between jobs. But all of a sudden, man, everything was locked down. And you’re right, we were stuck here for three months with no haul. Listen, it was great to surf all day, but I miss seeing the world.
Interviewer: What’s happening now?
Bodhi: A little while ago, things started to pick back up in a big way. We made our standard run, full of heavy agricultural goods. And our back-haul from China was crazy. Fully packed. After a trip or two, I realized we’d never moved this quickly before. Everything is rush, rush, rush! Man, I haven’t even seen my board in weeks.
Interviewer: How quickly are you moving?
Bodhi: I feel like I’m big wave surfing, man. We are at breakneck speed. At this point, we aren’t even carrying any inventory back to Asia. We get shipped back empty and turned around to Long Beach in one day. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Interview: Is the turnaround that quick in the US?
Bodhi: No way, man, Long Beach is in slow motion. Unfortunately, that crazy speed had to come to a bottleneck somewhere. I spend most of my time jammed up at that port, and man, I can’t even get away to wax my board.
Interviewer: Why is everything so congested?
Bodhi: With the import export cycles thrown off, there is a major, major equipment imbalance my friend. All of us are in the US, but they need us badly in Asia. As the shipping volume keeps shooting up, it’s only going to get worse.
Interviewer: How long do you think this will go on for?
Bodhi: Good question, man. I think we are at the crest of this wave, but I might not have time to surf until Chinese New Year. Wish they would tell us containers. Sounded like it wouldn’t go on for long, but we still get shipped empty. I’d kill for an easy haul with a layover. Somewhere like Bali would be alright with me.
Interview: Bummer, dude.
Bodhi: No worries! You know what they say, man, catch a good wave while you can.