The White House has announced John Porcari will serve as port envoy to the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force
Mr Porcari will work with transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who leads the focus on ports and trucking issues, and his team at the Department of Transportation and with the National Economic Council to address the congestion at US ports.
“Our country’s ports are the gateways for getting goods to market, which makes the appointment of John Porcari as ports envoy an especially important step forward in alleviating these disruptions that are impacting consumers, workers and businesses alike,” said National Economic Council director Brian Deese.
“The strength of the US economic recovery has tested the near-term capacity of our supply chains, and the Administration is operating on all fronts to ease bottlenecks and facilitate the flow of goods across the country.”
The Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force was established in June to address supply and demand in several sectors as the US economy re-opened.
With the surge in freight rates, container ships worldwide face increased demand as economies emerge from lockdowns, although they are challenged by issues such as port congestion.
Disruptions in global shipping and rapid shifts in demand have led to the cost of shipping containers between China and the US west coast to grow more than 90% compared with 2019. This congestion is being felt acutely at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together handle the largest share of containerised cargo moving through US ports.
In a statement, the White House said, “Envoy Porcari will work with these stakeholder and others at the ports to address the backlog and associated delivery delays and product shortages being experienced by American consumers and businesses.”
Mr Porcari has served twice as secretary of transportation for the State of Maryland and as chairman of the Maryland Port Commission. As deputy secretary and chief operating officer in the Department of Transportation under President Obama, he was directly involved in overseeing port, intermodal, maritime policy and maritime-related competitive grant programmes throughout the US.
The US is also looking to invest US$17Bn in port infrastructure as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal which has received the green light from the US Senate.
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