Supply chain players on various fronts told CCJ that they have little confidence in President Joe Biden’s initiative to alleviate congestion at the nation’s busiest ports.
The White House announced Wednesday that the president’s Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force had paved the way for 24/7 operations at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The White House reports that both ports “are the point of entry for 40% of containers to the U.S., and are on track to reach new highs in container traffic this year.”
Major companies that rely heavily on those ports – like FedEx, UPS, Walmart, Home Depot and Target – have pledged to step up afterhours operations, which comes as welcome news following a failed 24-hour pilot program at the Port of Long Beach last month.
A satellite photo provided by NASA earlier this month shows dozens of ships at anchor near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.NASA
Nonetheless, analysts and those working on the front lines during unprecedented freight imports say the president’s plan fails to fully address critical challenges like warehousing, equipment and driver shortages that have continued to create frustrating inefficiencies.
“Port throughput is not just taking containers off steamships, but having the capacity in the yard to position those containers, the chassis to put the containers on, the drivers to take the freight from the ports, and capacity in the rail network to facilitate the hoped for acceleration in port throughput,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at ACT Research. “While the President’s recognition of the situation is welcome, and will undoubtedly help at the margin, this effort resembles squeezing a balloon: The problem appears likely to be pushed to the next mode with insufficient capacity."
