Photo: ROBYN BECK / AFP / Getty Images
President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday new measures to decongest the supply chain to the country that has already caused some goods to be in short supply, price rises and is a threat to the recovery economic after the coronavirus pandemic .
Worldwide, ports are congested as a result of the rapid rebound in demand for raw materials and goods, as much of the world economy has recovered from the coronavirus pandemic .
Freight shipping costs have skyrocketed and companies wanting to move goods are struggling because there simply aren’t enough ships or containers available in the supply chain . And this causes prices to increase for consumers .
President Biden outlined the steps his administration will take alongside some of the largest ports and retailers in the world. country, to help alleviate bottlenecks in the supply chain .
Keys to the changes announced by Biden
Extended Port Hours: Biden announced that the Port of Los Angeles will go to service 24 x 7 , bringing it in line with operations at the Port of Long Beach , which is already running on a schedule 24 x 7. Those two can rtos handle 40% of the container traffic in the country. “Today’s announcement has the potential to be a game changer,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. He said the additional port hours will increase the time spent unloading container ships by 60 hours. per week and will represent twice the hours that the ports of Los Angeles and neighboring port of Long Beach were operating at the beginning of this year.
The private sector is also taking action: Biden met with senior officials and stakeholders to discuss collective efforts to address global transportation bottlenecks and then comment on Wednesday. The talks were attended by port operators, truckers associations, unions and executives from Walmart, FedEx, UPS and Target .
Biden said that Walmart , the largest retailer in the country, had pledged to increase by 50% products in motion during off-peak hours. The president said that FedEx and UPS will also increase their night operations. “All these goods will not move by themselves,” said Biden . “For the positive impact to be felt across the country and for all of you at home, we need the big retailers who ordered the products and the shippers who take the products from the ships to the factories and stores to step up as well.”
Efforts to increase the number of truck drivers: Officials also said the federal government is working with state Departments of Motor Vehicles to help increase the issuance of commercial driver’s licenses, in an effort to increase the number of truck drivers in the country. They added that the White House expects to see the trucking and rail transportation industries also extend their hours . The truck driver shortage has added to supply chain constraints, making delivering goods to consumers even more costly and slower.