Biden extends port operating hours amid logistical crisis '90 days sprinting'

U.S. President Joe Biden has taken an active role in easing the logistical crisis in the western port.

According to foreign media such as Reuters, President Biden will hold a meeting with officials from logistics companies, truck unions and the Chamber of Commerce at the White House on the 13th (local time) and announce countermeasures.

The AP reported that the North American subsidiary of Samsung Electronics was also subject to video attendance at the meeting.

The end of the year, which includes Thanksgiving and Christmas, is the biggest shopping season in the United States. However, due to the shortage of unloading personnel in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection, the logistics of the port took an emergency to the extent that the word 'Container Geddon' (a compound word of container and Armageddon) came out.

In particular, the bottlenecks in the western US ports of Los Angeles (LA) and Long Beach, which account for 40% of container transport into the US, are serious. The eastern ports of New York and Savannah, Georgia are also experiencing similar difficulties.

The White House, which even installed a task force led by the Transportation Secretary in June, has come up with a plan to extend the operation of the Port of Los Angeles to a 24-hour system.

After the logistic crisis, the Port of Long Beach has already started partially operating 24 hours from three weeks ago, and the Port of Los Angeles is also entering the same emergency system.

In addition, large distribution and transport companies such as Walmart, FedEx, and UPS have decided to enter into 24-hour operation to speed up the delivery of goods across the United States.

An official from the White House explained that Samsung Electronics, a manufacturer of electronics, Home Depot, which operates large shopping centers, and Target, also decided to increase their working hours to resolve the logistics crisis.

Officials described the effort as a '90-day sprint,' the Washington Post reported.

However, the Washington Post said that only one of the six terminals in Long Beach currently operates 24 hours a day, four times a week, and there is also concern that the Port of Los Angeles does not know how many terminals will enter the 24-hour system.

President Biden's active interest in the logistics crisis is not unrelated to concerns about economic and political damage.

This is because it can exacerbate the supply shortage that has worsened since the pandemic, act as inflationary pressure, and put a strain on the economic recovery.

In addition, in a situation where approval ratings are already plummeting due to the Corona 19 resurgence and the chaos of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, it can act as a bad political news.

"The supply crisis was triggered in part by the pandemic," Reuters said in a statement.