Item shortages due to global supply chain issues, not shipping, says Matson chief

Any product shortages on local grocery store shelves aren't because of shipping delays. That's the word from the head of Matson, who says any "temporarily out-of-stock" items are more the result of global supply chain disruptions.

Matson's Bernie Valencia says their container vessels haven't been subject to the reported backlog of thousands of ships over the last two weeks at U.S. West Coast ports, telling KUAM News, "We have dedicated terminals. Matson ships come into those terminals that only work Matson ships so the ships come in and out of there in long beach and Oakland into Hawaii and Guam on time all the time."

She says its hard to say how full each arriving container is, but she believes due to global supply chain disruptions local wholesalers and retailers may not be getting all the inventory they want.

"But it is true that the suppliers aren't necessarily filling all the orders. Someone might order a thousand cases of Yoplait yogurt, or whatever it might be, and they might only get a certain allocation," she said.

Another factor is simply growing global demand.  "A lot of it is the congestion from Asia to Long Beach. There's been a surge in demand. A lot of people are spending more, a lot of people are ordering more stuff online," said Valencia.

"When you speak to some of, or a lot of, our customers rather, retailers and wholesalers, they tell you there's no shortage of turkeys or there's no shortage of other things going on in the States," she continued. "They will come here whenever the suppliers can get it to them so if there's any advice that they might tell you is that if you do see it in the store buy it, but you don't need to hoard, just eventually no need to hoard because the ships will come every week on time."

Some early advice as we soon head into the holiday shopping season.