The semiconductor shortage is triggering a major storage problem at factories. Manufacturers are stacking up unfinished goods on factory floors and other makeshift sites, the WSJ’s Bob Tita reports, while they try to keep some production lines moving and wait for missing parts to finish off orders and get them shipped. The result is that many industrial manufacturers are amassing big inventories of unsold or incomplete products even as their backlogs of customer orders grow. The stockpiles suggest that strategies aimed at meeting the pandemic-driven strains in supply chains may be nearing their limits as companies try to ride out the disruptions. U.S. inventories of durable goods were nearly 12% higher in June than the same month two years ago, as tractors, earth-moving machines and other partially-assembled equipment piles up. Executives expect the shortages and delivery bottlenecks, exacerbated by overwhelmed transportation networks and labor shortages, to stretch into the fall.

Aluminum stockpiles are in the wrong place at the wrong time for Western manufacturers. Prices for the metal are reaching 10-year highs, the WSJ’s Joe Wallace and Hardika Singh report, as U.S. and European buyers struggle to get aluminum from storage sites in Asia. The industrial-sector disconnect is in part the result of changing trade flows in recent years that have pushed aluminum stockpiles from Western sites such as the Netherlands to sheds in countries like Malaysia close to China. Now supply chain disruptions are hitting the sector. New production hasn’t kept up with resurgent demand, logjams at ports are delaying shipments and containers used to move industrial metals are in short supply, boosting freight costs. That’s helped push prices on the London Metal Exchange up some 80% from the Ma 2020 low point, pinching companies that use the metal for products from beverage cans to airplanes.

Businesses along the Gulf Coast from the New Orleans port to energy companies are assessing damage from Ida’s powerful landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. Widespread flooding and power outages across Louisiana could slow the recovery in a region where roughly 8% of the nation’s refining capacity shut down ahead of the storm. The WSJ’s Collin Eaton and Jennifer Hiller reported that the impact of the storm on U.S. fuel prices would likely be muted unless refinery outages persist for a long period. Officials at the Port of New Orleans said their initial survey showed no major damage to container and bulk transport facilities that were shut down on Monday and that vessel traffic on the Lower Mississippi River remained suspended. Federal truck-safety regulators issued an emergency declaration across Louisiana and five nearby states waving some restrictions to allow drivers to carry in emergency equipment and rescue workers.

Growth in China’s factory sector fell in August to the lowest level in 18 months. (WSJ)

Dozens of United Airlines 777 jets powered with Pratt & Whitney engines may remain grounded while federal regulators weigh potential new safeguards. (WSJ)

Chinese food-delivery giant Meituan warned that it faces potential significant fines and may have to change business practices as a result of an antitrust investigation. (WSJ)

Industrial materials maker H.B. Fuller will impose an 11% surcharge on shipments of its products because of short supplies and rising costs. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Krispy Kreme is pushing to deliver its signature glazed doughnuts fresher and faster after buying out many of its franchisees. (WSJ)

Baxter International is in talks to buy medical-equipment maker Hill-Rom Holdings for around $10 billion. (WSJ)

Panjiva says retailers Walmart and TJX have navigated the pandemic in part by revamping their freight strategies. (Sourcing Journal)

Toyota boosted its global output by 11.9% in July from a year earlier but the pace of growth has been slowing. (Japan Times)

Germany’s Porsche will open a factory in Malaysia next year that will be its first outside Europe. (Financial Times)

Uber Technologies is looking to expand its delivery business in Japan with services beyond grocery and food delivery. (Nikkei Asia)

Retailer Ace Hardware plans to open another 60 stores in the U.S. this year, giving it at least 170 new outlets in 2021. (Industrial Distribution)

Sea-Intelligence says global container shipping schedule reliability fell in July to a record low. (Lloyd’s Loading List)

Container lines are focusing on leveraging today’s tight capacity constraints into more long-term contract agreements with shippers. (The Loadstar)

German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd ordered the equivalent of 75,000 containers from Chinese manufacturers. (ShippingWatch)

Container throughput at Cosco Shipping Ports terminals rose 8.8% in the first half of 2021. (Seatrade Maritime)

U.S. domestic intermodal container and trailer volumes fell in July from a year ago, according to the Intermodal Association of North America. (Logistics Management)

Chobani will shift its single-use yogurt cups from plastic to paper. (Food Dive)

Chanel is buying land to secure additional supplies of jasmine for the company's No. 5 perfume. (Reuters)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Write to him at paul.page@wsj.com.

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