October 13, 2021 – The White House is expected to announce today a pledge from one of the country’s busiest ports to operate around the clock.
The move would help ease the ongoing cargo logjams that have led to goods shortages and higher consumer costs.
Expanded operations at the Port of Los Angeles would nearly double the hours in which cargo can move. The White House said the extra shifts have been agreed to by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents dock workers.
By going to 24/7, the Port of Los Angeles will join the neighboring Port of Long Beach, California, which started doing the same thing last month. Major ports in Asia and Europe have operated around the clock for years, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Tens of thousands of containers are stuck in limbo at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, the West Coast gateways that move more than a quarter of all American imports. Dozens of ships are lined up to dock, with waiting times stretching to three weeks.
President Biden is scheduled to meet virtually on Wednesday afternoon with directors of the ports, union officials, chief executives, including those from Target Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. , as well as trucking and rail associations. Biden is then expected to deliver remarks “about how to alleviate supply chain bottlenecks,” the White House said.