Joe Biden makes supply chain push in bid to avert Christmas crisis
- Bottlenecks choking US ports, highways and railways raise threat of high prices and empty shelves in the coming holiday season
- To ease the backlog, the Port of Los Angeles will expand operations, while Walmart, FedEx and UPS will work to speed up deliveries
Biden said the Port of Los Angeles would join the Port of Long Beach, two of the country‘s busiest, in expanding round-the-clock operations to unload an estimated 500,000 containers waiting on cargo ships offshore.
Walmart, Target and other big retailers would also expand their overnight operations at the ports to try to meet delivery needs, Biden said.
It is a “big first step” to revamping supply chains in the United States, the world‘s biggest consumer market, Biden said, adding the government would be heavily involved.
“If federal support is needed, I‘ll direct all appropriate action, and if the private sector doesn’t step up, we’re going to call them out and ask them to act,” the president said in remarks at the White House. The broader goal, he said, is to address long-standing weaknesses in the US supply chain.