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 The fast-food chain said it was importing more than 1,000 tonnes
of frozen fries by air, which began arriving last Monday and had
begun routing another 1,600 tonnes through ports on the U.S. East
Coast which should begin arriving in late January.
Those steps alone, however, are not sufficient to prevent a
shortage.
"Unfortunately without this sales restriction step, we would run the
danger of running out of fries at some of our stores around the end
of the year or beginning of the new year," said McDonald's Japan
spokeswoman Kokoro Toyama.
 Toyama said the company, which has 3,100 stores in Japan, was not
placing any limit on the number of small-sized fries a customer may
buy but the resumption of medium-sized and large-sized fries remains
unclear. She declined to comment on the impact on earnings.
Container ports along the U.S. West Coast have been experiencing
severe delays since October, in part due to lengthy labor talks
between 20,000 dockworkers and the Pacific Maritime Association,
representing terminal operators and shipping lines at 29 West Coast
ports.
A shortage of tractor-trailer chassis used for hauling cargo from
the ports to warehouses, record levels of imports into the United
States, rail service delays and the advent of super-sized container
vessels delivering greater cargo volumes have also contributed to
the problem.
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Japan is the biggest Asian market for U.S.-made frozen potato
products, importing $336 million worth last year. A U.S. Potato
Board official said last week that said port jams have at least
doubled transit times for shipments of french fries to Japan from
two to four weeks.
(Reporting by Edwina Gibbs; Editing by Anand Basu)
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