A few days ago, Biden announced that the Port of Los Angeles will double its hours and go to 24/7 operations to help alleviate the cargo ship backlog and the supply chain crisis.
In a development that should surprise no one, the move hasn’t helped. So now Team Biden indicates that it may use the National Guard could help with the cargo ship bottleneck at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
A White House administration official confirmed to CNN Wednesday that it is considering all its options, including deploying the National Guard.When asked specifically about whether President Joe Biden would consider ordering the National Guard or Navy to help unload cargo stacked up at ports or drive trucks, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday, “I’m not here to take options off the table,” according to CNN.
The White House later clarified that the use of the National Guard is up to the state and its governor:
The White House then clarified that if the National Guard does step in to help mitigate supply chain issues, it will be a decision made by individual states.“Requesting the use of the National Guard at the state level is under the purview of governors, and we are not actively pursuing the use of the National Guard on a federal level,” the White House said in a statement.Governors in some states are considering or have called in the National Guard to ease labor shortages. In September, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker sent some 250 Guard members to take driving duties in school districts that were reporting severe shortages of school bus drivers, in part due to the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public employees.
The new route options have caused trouble for residents in neighborhoods near the port.
Valerie Contreras, a board member of the Wilmington, California, Neighborhood Council, told “Fox & Friends First” Thursday that the dangerous situation can’t continue.”The shipping industry is spilling over into our community and we cannot sustain it any longer,” Contreras said.”We have had these truckers going through our community. Our residential streets are backed up and we cannot handle the overflow of what’s happening at the port. And it’s quite dangerous.”One car was photographed being crushed by a container in the harbor area of Los Angeles.”This particular container of the driver pulled around the corner,” Contreras said. “It disconnected from his fifth wheel and fell completely and crushed this car.”
Union Pacific representatives indicated that expanding the hours is not going to quickly fix the cargo ship backlog, either.
Union Pacific executives and other logistics experts say that a shortage of available warehouse space and port and long-haul truckers are stymieing efforts to keep up with the surge in cargo to the United States – where the world’s most avid consumers have been buying more goods than ever due to pandemic-related curbs on travel and entertainment.
In response to the developing issues that are arising from the “solutions”, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to provide more container storage options.
The executive order directs state agencies to find state, federal and private land for short-term container storage while identifying freight routes for trucks so the state can temporarily exempt weight limits on the road.
Alternatively, companies that rely on shipping for product transport may consider diverting to Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis indicates the state’s ports are open for business.
“Our ports operate 24/7, I mean, that should be happening anyway,” the governor said. “We in Florida have the ability to help alleviate these logjams and help to ameliorate the problems with the supply chain.””We’re here, we have capacity,” he emphasized.The governor said JAXPORT and other Florida seaports are further offering incentive packages to businesses that want to send cargo through the facilities, noting that companies in other parts of the globe have already begun rerouting shipments from logjammed ports to Florida.
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