Mexican border town residents resilient despite pandemic isolation

Nov 23, 2021
When the border closed between Big Bend National Park and Boquillas in 2020, it separated residents from their main source of income.
Pre-pandemic, thousands of tourists crossed through the Boquillas port of entry each year. The port connecting Boquillas to Big Bend National Park in Texas closed in March 2020 but reopened on Nov. 17.
Annie Rosenthal/Marfa Public Radio

LA's port problems have retailers worrying about empty shelves for the holidays

Nov 9, 2021
Retailers and manufacturers are anxious about holiday shopping as they monitor supplies on delayed cargo ships.
Lots of space on the shelves in the toy department of a Houston Target store.
Brandon Bell via Getty Images

Ports are crowded as the holiday season approaches

Sep 3, 2021
Workers across industries have expressed frustration all year about shipping delays. Now it's crunch time again.
Containers, ships and cranes at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Longshore union members are negotiating a new contract with their employers.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Shipping cost index reaches 11-year high

Aug 25, 2021
The Baltic Dry Index tracks how much it costs to ship materials long distances.
A container ship is unloaded at the Port of Oakland in California. The Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the cost of shipping materials long distances, is at a high level amid congestion at Chinese ports.
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images

Congestion at U.S. ports means there's now a shortage of shipping containers

Aug 11, 2021
The lack of available space means that if you can get a container, you'll pay more for shipping what's in it.
Morris MacMatzen via Getty Images

Infrastructure plan would invest in U.S. ports

Mar 31, 2021
The modernization plan could expand port capacity and create jobs along the supply chain.
Container ships outside the Port of Long Beach in California.
David McNew/Getty Images

As e-commerce booms, U.S. ports face traffic jams

Nov 23, 2020
A federal commission is investigating.
Containers are offloaded from a ship at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

What the new coronavirus means for America's busiest port complex

Mar 5, 2020
"We've had 41 vessel cancellations from the middle of February through April 1," said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.
The Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest container port, in November 2019.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Trade whiplash costs businesses

Aug 15, 2019
Importers, shippers and American ports are struggling to stay on top of the ups and downs of the U.S.-China trade war.
Workers prepare a container at the port in Qingdao, China's eastern Shandong province, in earlier this year.
STR/AFP/Getty Images

Tariff jitters grow at Washington state port

Sep 12, 2018
The port of Vancouver handles the West Coast's second-largest volume of imported steel, now subject to a 25 percent duty.
ILWU Local 4 President Cager Clabaugh says the tariffs are already hurting work at the port. An order for 6,000 tons of copper ore on route to China was recently canceled. The mountains of copper now sit unused in a warehouse at the Port of Vancouver.
Molly Solomon/OPB