This is something that each airsoft player and shopper along the U.S. West Coast and other affected areas should pray that it would not come to a head by Thanskgiving and the Christmas Holidays when the level of orders and shipments are at their peak.  In this link sent to us by Ravishing Rick Dude, SCPR blogs about the building congestion and delays in shipping all along the cost from Tacoma, Washington in the North to Long Beach, California in the South. These are important ports as it affects commerce in the Pacific Rim, where some of the biggest markets and economies in the world located.

The Blog reports that this situation is costing AirSplat.com time and money as shipments to other business and individual customers get delayed. Some, if not many customers will not understand what happened to their orders. According to the owner of AirSplat.com owner,Kenneth Wu, explains that usually shipments from China and Taiwan are released to them within 24-48 hours upon arrival at the port, but these days, it's taking almost two weeks.  The longer the containers sit at the port, the more fees that AirSplat has to pay.

Two reasons for the delays are the tensions between the shipping companies and dockworkers' union blaming each other for the slowdown while they are negotiating a new contract and also the lack of the "trucks drivers, truck chassis, and rail car capacity to haul cargo away". The latter reason is also one cause the union, ILWU, is refusing to release qualified workers until employers deal with the problem.

The delays have been building up since October as retailers placed orders early in anticipation that the West Coast ports may shutdown due to labor issues, and if gets worse, will affect shipments to retailers and customers all over the U.S. The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach California handle 40% of all the shipping arriving via the Pacific Ocean.

Kenneth Wu explains further that as compared to other big box retailers such as Walmart, he has more breathing room. Still, in case that deliveries from AirSplat and other airsoft retailers get delayed, airsoft players will have to understand that the delay in their orders is caused by factors beyond the control of the retailers.