As if the east and west coast weren't different enough, now there's a new divide: container ship wait times. With increasing pressure on both sides to move shipments, the analysts at Marine Traffic noted that there is a greater amount of ship capacity waiting off ports on the east coast than those on the west coast.

Analysts say that vessels started heading to US East Coast ports as early last summer, and the wait grew at Pacific Coast facilities due in part to workers reporting sick during pandemic and subsequent labor shortages. Ports on both coasts experienced trucking delays because there were too many containers waiting for return trips from Asia, which caused them all sorts of issues including warehouse space limitations.