- Bottlenecks and backupsat some of the nation's

busiest shipping portsare creating a shortage

of just about everything

from computers and furnitureto household items.

President Biden meetingtoday with major retailers

and suppliers, includingWalmart, IPS and Home Depot,

as well as port leaders.

An effort to stave offshortages Americans may face

as delays threatened theholiday shopping season.

- What happens with therailroads in the Midwest

and warehouses across the country

affects the number of ships

that everyone sees out here in the harbor.

- [Reporter] Ports in LosAngeles and long beach California

account for 40% of all shippingcontainers entering the US.

According to the MarineExchange of Southern California,

as of Monday, there were 62ships docked at the two ports

and 81 waiting to dock and unload.

The result, empty store shelves.

- Into keep the shelves full,

we have to order eight weeksin advance, eight to six weeks.

- Basically what I'vebeen telling people to do

is start shopping earlyeven before for Halloween.

- [Reporter] And if you'rehoping to buy that hot toy

for a child this Christmas,Amazon says order now,

otherwise you're likelyto receive a message

saying out of stock, or limitedsupply, or expect delays.

And it's not just toys in short supply,

financial issues, radioand TV host Dan Celia

told CBN's Global Lane, what'sbehind the supply crisis.

- First and foremost, our trucking issue

more than it is anything else.

The supply chain bottlenecks started

with manufacturing issues,

they couldn't manufacture fast enough,

and then we had a container bottleneck,

those big shipping containers.

A year ago, it costs $1,900to use the container,

now it's costing $16,000

because they're using their container

for storage on the ships in the ports,

and there's a shortage of thatcreating another bottleneck.

- [Reporter] Celia saysthe issue could drag on

for quite some time,

which he believes pointsto increased inflation.

- We haven't even begunto see the inflation

that is gonna come from all of this

to get these products into thestores if we can ever do it,

and I'm more worried about food,

getting to supermarketsthan I am anything,

because that could be another problem.

- [Reporter] But TreasurySecretary Janet Yellen

is cautioning against panic buying.

- I think there's no reasonfor consumers to panic

about the absence of goods

that they're gonna wannaacquire at Christmas.

- [Reporter] Meanwhile,the port of Los Angeles

has committed to operating 24 seven

to try to reduce the congestion.

Big retailers and shipping companies

are also pledging to expand their hours.

Charlene Aaron, CBN News.