The White House announced today it helped broker a deal to keep the Port of Los Angeles in operation 24/7. The Port of LA now joins the Port of Long Beach which began 24/7 operation about three weeks ago. This should nearly double the hours that cargo can pass through these busy ports, according to various reports.
Additionally, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents dock workers, has agreed to increased hours, said The Wall Street Journal.
Larger port users, Walmart, FedEx and UPS have committed to unloading during off peak hours to help the port operate non-stop, said US News & World Report.
The two LA ports account for 40 percent all shipping containers entering the United States. US News says there are 62 ships docked at the two ports and 81 waiting to dock and unload. Most cargo ships can carry 10-20,000 twenty-foot sized containers. So there may be over 2 million containers stuck at these ports.
President Joe Biden plans to discuss the port issues in a speech today.
Look at that! Joe Biden finally did something good.
I don’t know why it took this long to realize going to a 24/7 schedule made sense. In any event, it’s good news and certainly a timely decision given the upcoming holiday shopping season. I hope this positively affects the 12 volt retailers and suppliers!
We will take any good news we can get!