Biden Announces New Measures to Alleviate Supply Chain Crisis
Biden announced that the Port of Los Angeles will work 24 x 7.
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 scarce, price rises and is a threat to the economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic.
All over the world, 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.
The costs of shipping goods have skyrocketed and companies wanting to move goods are struggling because there simply aren’t enough ships or containers available in the market. supply chain. AND this causes prices to rise for consumers.
President Biden outlined the steps his administration will take, along with some of the nation’s largest ports and retailers, to help alleviate bottlenecks from the supply chain.
Keys to the changes announced by Biden
Hours of Extended Port Operations: Biden announced that the Port of Los Angeles will go to service 24 x 7, bringing it in line with the operations in the Port of Long Beach, which is already operating on a 24 x 7 schedule. Those two ports 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 a week and will account for double the hours the ports of Los Angeles and neighboring port of Long Beach were operating earlier 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 nation’s largest retailer, had pledged to increase products in motion by 50% during off-peak hours. The president said that FedEx and UPS their night operations will also increase. “All these goods will not move by themselves,” he 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 hopes to see the trucking and rail industries also extend their hours. The truck driver shortage has added to supply chain limitations, making delivering goods to consumers even more expensive and time consuming.
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