The U.S. government is boosting efforts to relieve the supply chain challenges that have caused materials shortages and higher prices and are threatening to slow the economic recovery, according to www.cnn.com.
The White House will work with companies and ports on a “90-day sprint” to ease bottlenecks, and some ports will start working 24/7 to address the backlogs. The Port of Los Angeles will move to 24/7 service, aligning with operations at the Port of Long Beach, which already is working on a 24/7 schedule; those two ports handle 40% of container traffic in the U.S.
Ports throughout the world are congested because of a rapid rebound in demand for commodities and goods as much of the global economy has recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Shipping costs have soared; companies are struggling to move goods because there are not enough ships or containers available; and prices are rising for consumers.
President Biden met Wednesday with port operators, truckers’ associations, labor unions and executives from Walmart, FedEx, UPS and Target to discuss efforts to address the issue. The White House hopes these companies motivate other companies to ramp up their operations.
Additionally, the federal government is working with state Departments of Motor Vehicles to help increase issuance of commercial driver’s licenses and boost the number of truck drivers in the U.S. A shortage of truck drivers has added to the supply chain struggles.
