Joe Biden applauds the supply chain victory, but issues remain

According to US President Joe Biden, government steps to address global supply chain challenges have averted a pre-Christmas crisis. He was addressing it ahead of a meeting with officials and CEOs, including FedEx, the world’s largest transportation corporation.

In June, he established a task force to combat the pandemic’s growing prices and shortages of products. However, some business owners and industry analysts claim that supply issues still exist in the United States.

“The much-anticipated crisis did not emerge,” Mr Biden said in a meeting with members of his Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force and corporate executives. Packages are moving, gifts are being delivered, shelves are not empty. 

At the meeting, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, and Transportation secretaries, as well as National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Port Envoy John Porcari, attended.

The American Association of Port Authorities, the Gap, and Yellow Corp, a Kansas-based transportation company, were also in attendance.

In October, the Biden administration pushed for 24-hour port operations and enlisted the support of some of the country’s top retailers, such as Walmart and Target, to clear a massive backlog of goods.

Following a similar initiative by the neighbouring Long Beach port, the Port of Los Angeles in California announced that it will handle more products at night. The ports, which handle 40% of all cargo containers entering the US, have been plagued by issues for months.

The White House has hailed the project as a success, citing a record quantity of commodities passing faster through ports and a half-hour reduction in shipping container wait times.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said last month that he has noticed a favourable impact on the flow of goods.

The ports, on the other hand, are still dealing with a rush of empty shipping containers, with a queue of roughly 90 container ships waiting to unload.

Supply chain expert Megan Benger of business consultant TMX said with caution that the new COVID-19 strain that is sweeping the globe will have an impact on the global supply chain in the coming year.