The president of the Toy Association has warned that the cost of children's gift will rise by ten percent this year amid a crisis at America's ports.
Toy Association President Steve Pasierb said the record backlog at California's ports, where 36 percent of US imports come from, will take until mid-2022 to clear - leaving many parents unable to find gifts over the holiday season.
He told Fox News on Wednesday that industry that is projected to be the most impacted by the shortage of goods is the toy industry.
And he said kids should not expect to see all of the presents the want under the Christmas tree if families are buying closer to the holiday season, or even as early as Black Friday.
'It's hitting us at the worst time of the year, which is the holidays,' Pasierb said.
Pasierb added that it's going to take until the end of next year's financial second-quarter to solve the crisis at the California ports, particularly in Los Angeles, dubbed as 'America's port'.
Thousands of containers sit, waiting to be loaded on trucks and trains, as large container ships are unloaded from the Ports of Los Angeles (pictured) and Long Beach, while dozens of large container ships wait to be unloaded offshore Wednesday
Toy Association president Steve Pasierb said some children's gifts will cost up to 10 percent MORE this Christmas and families should plan ahead for holiday season purchases
Yesterday the White House warned that many popular toys may not get here in time for Christmas (pictured: A couple shopping for the remaining towels in an otherwise empty Home Goods department of Sears in El Paso, Texas on October 10)
Ports are also just one piece of the puzzle. The country needs more truck drivers, better infrastructure, and a supply chain that can less easily be disrupted by pandemics and extreme weather.
'We've got a long, long way to go. It took us more than a year to get into this,' Pasierb said.
The White House said it set-up a task force in June to tackle the issue, press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday. She went on to blame the pandemic for economic fallout, describing the situation as 'inevitable.'
'I can't make a prediction,' Psaki said about how long the supply chain bottlenecks would last. However, she said that an overnight fix on the congestion of the issue isn't realistic.
'The supply chain task force has been working around the clock for months and months to address a range of… different issues that we see in the supply chain… There are issues at the ports…those have been on the rise recently,' she said.
The White House responded to the backlog by finalizing an agreement for the Port of Los Angeles to become a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week operation.
Shortages of dockworkers at ports and delivery drivers have increased shipping delayers. Pictured: Dock workers at the Port of Los Angeles leave at the end of their shit on October 13
The hope is that nighttime operations will help to break the logjam and reduce shipping delays for toasters, sneakers, bicycles, cars and more.
'By increasing the number of late-night hours of operation and opening up for less-crowded hours when the goods can move faster, today's announcement has the potential to be a gamechanger,' President Biden said.
The rising costs are eating into worker pay, creating a drag on growth and driving Republican criticism of Biden just as his multitrillion-dollar tax, economic, climate and infrastructure agenda is going through the crucible of congressional negotiations.
Not to mention, the expansion of port operations was also an unspoken recognition that inflation is lingering at higher levels long after the economy began to reopen from the coronavirus pandemic.
Businesses were worrying about monthslong delays for shipping containers in June, yet the administration only formed its supply chain task force that month and named a port
