U.S. export supply chains are choking on empty containers. Hundreds of thousands of boxes are filling marine terminals and truck yards across Southern California, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes, tying up crucial cargo-handling space and adding to the gridlock that has gripped American distribution networks. The empties are a sign of the fractured state of supply chains, as shippers scramble to find scarce sea containers for goods even as storage sites are overflowing with boxes. The containers are in the wrong places for exporters on both sides of the Pacific, however. Shipping lines are prioritizing recovery of the empty containers and stacks are growing higher as operators from terminals to truckers cope with constrained capacity to manage them. Ocean operators typically send “sweeper” vessels to haul away excess empties, but few ships are available for that duty these days.

Heavily congested container operations on the U.S. West Coast face new clouds in the coming year from a familiar direction. Unionized dockworkers and marine terminals are girding for talks on a new labor contract in 2022, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes, raising the potential for fresh turmoil over bargaining that in past years has been highly contentious and triggered disruptions. The contract covering some 22,000 workers along the coast expires next July, and history suggests any agreement won’t come easily. The dockside disruptions and shipping delays in the last cycle in 2014 and 2015 were particularly extensive and hit the U.S. economy before disputes were resolved. The sides are already showing that they are bracing for a battle. The employer group asked this month to extend the existing contract into 2023 because of the ongoing supply-chain congestion. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union quickly rejected that idea.

The e-commerce drive toward retail dominance is running into a brick-and-mortar wall. Retailers this year are expected to open more stores than they close for the first time since 2017, the WSJ’s Suzanne Kapner reports, as merchants reconsider the value of physical stores in their supply chains. Most of the growth is coming from mass merchants, food, drugs and convenience chains, but the pace of closures for department stores and specialty retailers has also slowed as companies adjust to a hybrid world of online and in-person shopping. Stores have become integral in fulfilling e-commerce orders as retailers operate them as distribution hubs, both for shipping out orders and as convenient places for shoppers to pick up and return online purchases. Dick’s Sporting Goods is among retailers that say the online and store experiences have become more closely linked. They’re adjusting real-estate strategies, and resetting supply chains to match.

The supply-chain woes that have been a defining feature of the global economy have taken a heavy toll on the workers on the front lines. Dock workers, railroad hands, truck drivers and warehouse staff have worked throughout the Covid pandemic to handle a surge of U.S. imports. In a special report, the WSJ’s Paul Ziobro, Jennifer Smith, Paul Berger and Costas Paris look at some of those who have witnessed firsthand the sharp swings in supply and demand during the pandemic, and the efforts by retailers to restock ahead of this year’s critical shopping season. For Jennifer West, her work shuttling containers through a BNSF Railway rail yard has grown more difficult as sites have grown more clogged. Sweetwater Sound receiving manager Lori Giffin says her job at a has never been more unpredictable and that containers continue to reach the company’s Fort Wayne, Ind., distribution center.

Some countries are closing their borders as more nations report they have detected the fast-spreading Covid-19 Omicron variant. (WSJ)

Industry estimates suggest online retail sales over the holiday weekend didn’t increase from the prior year for the first time in nearly a decade. (WSJ)

U.S. household spending rose 1.3% in October, accelerating the previous month’s growth. (WSJ)

New weekly jobless claims in the U.S. fell to a 52-year low. (WSJ)

Orders for durable goods in the U.S. fell for the second straight month while orders for core capital goods rose 0.6%. (WSJ)

Alibaba is giving more power to the company’s business units to become more agile, potentially opening the way for spinoffs. (WSJ)

Climate protesters blockaded Amazon facilities in the U.K. and elsewhere in a bid to disrupt Black Friday operations. (WSJ) 

Deere & Co. showed little impact from a strike as quarterly revenue rose 16% to $11.3 billion. (WSJ)

Target’s chief legal and compliance officer says the retailer is using technology and third-party providers to expand its responsible sourcing efforts. (WSJ)

Few Polish truck drivers are interested in the U.K.’s offer of work visas. (New York Times)

Canada slated about $3.2 million in emergency backing to relieve supply-chain backups at the Port of Vancouver as the flood-hit region braced for more heavy rainfall. (CBC)

Tesla lost more than about $1.1 billion in European subsidies for its planned battery plant near Berlin after delays to the project breached funding conditions. (Financial Times)

Supply-chain congestion is helping fuel skyrocketing profits for shipping lines. (Los Angeles Times)

Maersk Line expects world-wide container shipping demand growth to ease next year. (Lloyd’s List)

California’s Long Beach Container Terminal is opening a third vessel berth in December that will boost the port’s annual capacity by the equivalent of 1 million containers. (Journal of Commerce)

SSA Marine will start charging customers added fees for containers that remain too long at Port of Seattle terminals. (Port Technology)

Pacific International Lines will pay creditors $1 billion ahead of schedule in a sign of the operator’s improving financial position. (Business Times)

A Danish frigate killed four suspected pirates and took four others into custody in the Gulf of Guinea. (Marine Executive)

On-time delivery for FedEx improved in October but remained well behind United Parcel Service and U.S. Postal Service measures. (Supply Chain Dive)

Canadian Pacific won regulatory approval in Mexico for its planned acquisition of Kansas City Southern. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Rail regulators are telling Norfolk Southern to address shipper complaints of deteriorating service in recent weeks. (Railway Age)

Plans for what appeared to be an Amazon warehouse north of Des Moines, Iowa, were canceled. (Des Moines Register)

E-commerce conveyor systems vendor Regal Rexnord acquired handling equipment specialist Arrowhead Systems. (DC Velocity)

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

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @jensmithWSJ  @LydsONeal and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.