The modest truck trailers used to ferry containers from ports are moving to the center of debates over the bottlenecks at Southern California’s jammed ports. Industry executives say the available supply of chassis at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has dwindled, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes, as the flood of arriving imports has overwhelmed short-staffed regional warehouses. The disconnect has left thousands of chassis at a time tied up at freight hubs and warehouses, out of circulation even as more boxes hit the docks. Turn times for the equipment have more than doubled to about nine days, officials say, leaving trucks and drivers idle even as companies press to get their goods delivered. The problems with operations that make up a narrow sliver of supply chains show the challenges authorities face as they try to clear the unyielding backup at the Southern California ports.

Strains in supply chain and in labor markets are catching up to the e-commerce sector’s biggest operator. Amazon’s third-quarter sales grew slower than expected and its net profit fell by nearly half, to $3.2 billion, and the company said the ongoing stresses would continue to weigh on earnings. The WSJ’s Sebastian Herrera reports Amazon has spent heavily to build out its own network to keep up with strong online retail demand, but the company saw rising freight and shipping expenses last quarter as it coped with global supply chain disruptions. The online behemoth has had to reroute products to meet demand and spent some $2 billion in extra pay and incentives and to take other actions across its supply chain. Amazon hired around 133,000 workers in the quarter, mostly at warehouses, and has doubled the size of its fulfillment network since the start of the pandemic.

The global chip shortage is only deepening even as companies try to close a gap that is hobbling the world’s manufacturers. Wait times for semiconductors are lengthening, buyers are hoarding products and the squeeze looks increasingly likely to extend through next year. The WSJ’s Stephanie Yang and Jiyoung Sohn report the shortfall is worsening despite scrambling from factories to distributors to repair chip supply chains and that frustration among manufacturers and buyers is growing. Wait times for chip deliveries have climbed from a normal 9-12 weeks to 22 weeks by October, and 38 weeks for the microcontrollers that the auto industry needs. One distributor says some buyers trying to place new orders are getting delivery dates in 2024, while chip makers say the lack of supplies in their operations have caused them to lose sales. Experts say stockpiling is adding to the stress by creating an inflated sense of demand.

U.S. economic growth slowed to a 2% annual rate in the third quarter as supply limitations offset strong consumer demand. (WSJ) 

Initial U.S. jobless claims fell to a new pandemic low of 281,000. (WSJ)

Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam expects the supply-chain crunch to last into 2023. (WSJ)

Apple warned that supply-chain disruptions are hindering its iPhone manufacturing as it reported a 12-month profit of nearly $100 billion. (WSJ)

A new report says the number of workers at U.S. meatpacking plants who contracted Covid-19 and who died was significantly higher than previously known. (WSJ)

Caterpillar’s quarterly sales rose 14% as supply-chain constraints undercut the company’s ability to deliver on strong order growth. (WSJ)

U.S. steelmakers expect strong demand and high prices for steel will extend deep into next year. (WSJ)

Quarterly profit at Samsung Electronics soared 31% to the equivalent of $10.5 billion on booming demand for memory chips. (WSJ)

New research shows global supply chains will need an estimated $100 trillion to reach net-zero carbon emissions over the next three decades. (Bloomberg)

Trans-Pacific shipping rates are slipping as retailers appear to be giving up on getting more goods delivered by Christmas. (Lloyd’s Loading List)

Tool maker Stanley Black & Decker says it has some $800 million in goods trapped in supply chain bottlenecks. (CNBC)

Toy maker Hasbro was unable to fill $100 million worth of orders in the third quarter due to shipping supply chain disruptions. (Supply Chain Dive)

GE Appliances will spend $450 million to expand production at its main appliance facility in Louisville, Ky. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Freight operator Schneider National raised its full-year outlook after third-quarter income jumped 147% to $110 million. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Werner Enterprises’ third-quarter profit rose 38% to $63.8 million as revenue increased 19%. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Euronav says no talks are under way to merge with fellow tanker operator Frontline. (TradeWinds)

A narcotics ring shipped millions of dollars of cocaine into New York City by stuffing it in lunchboxes sent through the U.S. Postal Service. (New York Post)

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

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