West Coast Port Congestion Backing Up Imports/Exports

LOS ANGELES, CA – The congestion at the West Coast ports continues, with massive numbers of shipping containers overrunning warehouses in the two busiest ports of the country that handle roughly 40 percent of all containers; Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Combined with a lack of drivers, a shortage of trailer chassis, and a large number of boats waiting to dock and unload shipments for the upcoming holiday season in the States, this is at the heart of the global supply chain bottlenecks affecting almost every industry in business.

Last week, the White House held a roundtable with administration officials, port authority directors, business leaders, and representatives of the unions to discuss the challenges and potential solutions to the problem.

This week, to clear some of the obstacles, California Governor Gavin Newsom directed his state’s agencies to find space for short-term storage, suspend and exempt freight haulers from vehicle weight limits, and open up the search for more port and transportation workers to begin immediately.

Also, both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have agreed to 24-hour operations to move more goods faster and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has considered calling up the National Guard to help with clearing the backlog.

Currently, U.S. agricultural exports of beef, pork, and other commodities have been delayed from making their cross-Pacific trip to buyers in China, Japan, Korea, and Southeastern Asia.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)