McDonald’s Corporation's Japanese website issued a statement on December 15 apologizing for the inconvenience as well as explaining the problem with not being able to get french fries through West Coast ports. The company said temporarily, only small portions of french fries will be sold.

McDonald's is Japan's biggest restaurant chain. This latest predicament is not helping the global giant's sales, with same-store sales being down in Japan 12 percent this month. Digital Journal reported on Dec. 8 that the company had shown a decline in sales globally for the sixth straight month in November, with a drop of 2.2 percent, sending their stock down 3.7 percent.
Port gridlock affecting shipping from U.S. to Canada

Continuing congestion and gridlock at West Coast ports show no sign of being resolved, leaving a negative impression, reminiscent of the 10-day work stoppage of 2002. Continuing down times at Los Angeles-Long Beach ports have forced customers to look further north into Canada for some relief.

In the U.S., a long-standing disagreement between the government, management, union and non-union drivers are getting worse, with talk of a possible work stoppage. This would be disastrous for shippers of goods to and from Asia. Added to the problems in the U.S. is the possibility of container truck drivers in Canada going on strike.

Additionally, adding to Canada's woes, British Columbia's ports are operating at near capacity, too. So french fries and retail store products and the like are going to be in short supply for a while longer. "Things are definitely starting to heat up," said Gavin McGarrigle of Unifor, which represents many unionized container truck drivers in Vancouver. "If these issues aren't resolved there's going to be a major problem."

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