Podcast: Stuck for days in L.A.'s biggest traffic jam

LA Times
·1 min read
LONG BEACH, CALIF., OCT. 14, 2021: Twenty-four year-old Indonesian seafarer Abrorizki Geraldy Aulia, in the foreground, served as a crew member of the Southern Korean flagged bulk cargo ship Pan Amber for 15 months without a break as the pandemic raged and helped slow the global supply chain of goods movement to a crawl. (Ronald D. White / Los Angeles Times)
Indonesian seafarer Abrorizki Geraldy Aulia, in the foreground, has served as a crew member of the Southern Korean-flagged bulk cargo ship Pan Amber for 15 months. The 24-year-old has not been able to go ashore. (Ronald D. White / Los Angeles Times)

Hundreds of thousands of sailors worldwide are stuck on cargo ships far longer than they'd intended, with few chances to contact the outside. Usually ports offer opportunities for a break, but most of these sailors haven't had access to COVID-19 vaccines, so they're not allowed to set foot in the United States.

Today, L.A. Times Business reporter Ronald D. White takes us to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's largest. A huge backlog of cargo ships is waiting offshore for a turn to unload merchandise. Meanwhile, the crew aboard is going nowhere fast — and there's basically no internet access, no visitors, no nice restaurant food delivery. They're trapped.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guest: Los Angeles Times Business reporter Ronald D. White

More reading:

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.