The Health Industry Distributors Association, a trade group representing medical supply distributors, estimates 8,000 to 12,000 containers filled with millions of medical supplies are delayed, the group said Dec. 17.
Medical supplies are stalled an average of 17 days at ports. Containers with medical supplies are delayed an average of 11 days by rail and nine days by truck.
The West Coast ports with the greatest number of delayed medical containers are Long Beach and Los Angeles while the most congested East Coast port for medical supplies is Savannah.
The new research comes after a Dec. 1 call from the group to establish a "fast pass" system to speed medical supplies and devices through the U.S. transportation system.