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Politics in logistics

Politics in Logistics

The truth about port congestion compared to the news.

On the mainstream news, we hear about delays for USA bound goods, purported causes and that our government is on the case.

President Joseph Biden met with Port Officials and they indicated they would go to 24/7 drayage trucking and port operations.

As of 6:39 a.m. 19OCT2021, the place is a ghost town. Still waiting on the 24/7 port through put.

UP Rail announced today that they are ready to go 24/7 and have positioned themselves for when the schedule opens.

Legislation has been in the works as exporters (especially in USA Farms for products like soybeans)  Reported here at Logistics Monthly 

The lack of IPI movement to the Midwest States has really hurt exporters in major ways. Here , member groups like The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance helped lobby for assistance. We spoke with the Secretary/Treasurer of SSGA, Mr. Darwin Rader. When asking Mr Rader about their lobbying efforts, his main word to take away is they are “hopeful.” He sited how other countries are enticing balance. India for example has offered tariff incentives if you import inland.

This idea forces the ocean carriers to allow the IPI and make equipment available for export. Link here

 October is one of the busiest months for soybean exports. Without inland containers, the economics doesn’t work in favor of commodity sales. They are selling to Asia. Japan, China and Taiwan which are the main buyers.

At stake is also part of President Trump’s Phase One Agreement with China that has targets of exporting $73.9 Billion of Agricultural Products. Read more here.   So many catch twenty two’s in the global economy are preventing the attainable numbers from being hit.  If we cannot export because of logistics/supply chain issues, the Phase One will be just a goal and the trade imbalance will prevent any lifting of tariffs (in part or whole).

With COVID-19 still disrupting ports, warehousing, trucking and other first mile/last mile parts of the puzzle, we will continue to have domino effect events. A big thank you goes out to the maritime professionals stuck on ships due to restrictions and constant rotation. The fortitude is amazing!

Only time will tell if the current administration can take a playbook from India or actually get all the parties together to go 24/7 in LA/Long Beach.