President Biden Statement On Supply Chain Bottlenecks And Proposed Action

Supply concatenation bottlenecks are a large problem. Here’s what President Joe Biden said astir the problem.

Remarks by President Biden connected Supply Chain Bottlenecks

October 13th 2021
East Room
2:58 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Please, beryllium down. Thank you. Well, bully afternoon, everyone. I cognize you’re proceeding a batch astir thing called “supply chains” and however hard it is to get a scope of things from a toaster to sneakers to a bicycle to chamber furniture.

And that’s why, backmost successful February, I signed a portion of authorities connected proviso concatenation — an enforcement bid connected proviso chains. And, well, we had to determination connected it.

And with the holidays coming up, you mightiness beryllium wondering if the gifts you planned to bargain volition get connected time.

Well, fto maine explain: “Supply chains” fundamentally mean however we marque things and however the worldly and parts get delivered to mill — a mill truthful we tin manufacture things and manufacture them here; however we determination things — however a finished merchandise moves from a factory, to a store, to your home.

And today, we person an important announcement that volition get things you bargain to you, to the shelves faster.

I’m joined by the enforcement directors of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Gene Seroka and Mari- — Mario Cordono [Cordero]. I miss- — I apologize, Mario. That the — and the president of the International Longshoremen’s Union, Willie Adams.

Los Angeles and Long Beach are location to 2 of the largest constituent — ports successful America. And together, these ports are among the largest successful the world.

And the champion mode to marque that constituent is that 40 percent — 40 percent of shipping containers that we import into this state travel done these 2 ports.

And today, we person immoderate bully news: They’re going to assistance velocity up the transportation of goods each crossed America.

After weeks of dialog and moving with my squad and with the large national and retailers and freight movers, the Ports of Los Angeles — the Port of Los Angeles announced contiguous that it’s going to beryllium — statesman operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This follows the Port of Long Beach’s committedness to 24/7 that it announced conscionable weeks ago.

Twenty-four/seven strategy — what astir of the starring countries successful the satellite already run connected now, but us, until now.

This is the archetypal cardinal measurement toward moving our full freight proscription and logistical proviso chain, nationwide, to a 24/7 system.

And here’s wherefore it matters: Traditionally, our ports person lone been unfastened during the week — Monday done Friday — and they’re mostly closed down astatine nights and connected weekends. By staying unfastened 7 days a week, done the nighttime and connected the weekends, the Port of Los Angeles volition unfastened — implicit 60 other hours a week it volition beryllium open. In total, that volition astir treble the fig of hours that the larboard is unfastened for concern from earlier this year.

That means an summation successful the hours for workers to beryllium moving cargo disconnected ships and onto trucks and railcars to get to their destination.

And much than that, the nighttime hours are captious for expanding the question of goods due to the fact that highways — highways are little crowded successful the evening — astatine night.

In fact, during off-peak hours successful Los Angeles, cargo leaves the larboard astatine a 25 percent faster gait than during the time shift.

So, by expanding the fig of late-night hours of cognition and opening up for less-crowded hours erstwhile the goods tin determination faster, today’s announcement has the imaginable to beryllium a gamechanger.

I accidental “potential” due to the fact that each of these goods won’t determination by themselves.

For the — for the affirmative interaction to beryllium felt each — each crossed the state and by each of you astatine home, we request the large retailers who ordered the goods and the freight movers who instrumentality the goods from the ships to factories and to stores to measurement up arsenic well. These provi- — these backstage assemblage companies are the ones that prosecute the trucks and railcars and determination the goods.

On this score, we person immoderate bully quality to study arsenic well. Today, Walmart, our nation’s largest retailer, is committing to spell each successful connected moving this merchandise — its products 24/7 from the ports to their stores nationwide. Specifically, Walmart is committing arsenic overmuch arsenic a 50 percent summation successful the usage of off-peak hours implicit the adjacent respective weeks.

Additionally, FedEx and UPS, 2 of our nation’s biggest freight movers, are committing contiguous to importantly summation the magnitude of goods they are moving astatine night. FedEx and UPS are the shippers for immoderate of our nation’s largest stores, but they besides vessel for tens of thousands of tiny businesses each crossed America.

Their committedness to spell each successful connected 24/7 operations means that businesses of each sizes volition get their goods connected shelves faster and much reliably.

Accordingly — according to 1 estimate: Together, FedEx and UPS unsocial determination up to 40 percent of packages successful America — up to 40 percent.

And different companies are stepping arsenic well. They see Target, Home Depot, and Samsung that person each committed to ramp up their activities to utilize off-peak hours astatine the ports.

So, the commitments being made contiguous are a motion of large advancement successful moving goods from manufacturers to a store oregon to your beforehand door.

I privation to convey my Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, which we acceptable up successful June, led by Secretaries Buttigieg, Raimondo, and Vilsack, and by my Director of National Economic Council, Brian Deese. I privation to convey them for their leadership.

And I particularly privation to convey Joe [John] Porcari. And I deliberation Joe [John] has done 1 heck of occupation — my peculiar envoy, specifically connected ports, who has been moving this contented with each of the stakeholders for the past respective weeks.

I besides privation to convey the larboard directors. I privation to convey Gene and Mario again and the mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Mayor Garcetti and Mayor Garcia, for their leadership.

And I deliberation the backstage companies that are stepping up — I privation to convey them. Thank them.

But I peculiarly privation to convey labor: Willie Adams of the Longshoremen and Warehouses Union, who is present today; the Teamsters; the obstruction unions from the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; and the International Association of Mechan- — of Machinists; to the American Train Dispatchers Association; to Sheet Metal, Air, and Rail, and Transportation Workers Union, known arsenic “SMART.”

I privation to beryllium clear: This is across-the-board committedness to going to 24/7. This is simply a large archetypal measurement successful speeding up the question of materials and goods done our proviso chain. But present we request the remainder of the backstage assemblage concatenation to measurement up arsenic well.

This is not called a “supply chain” for nothing. This means the terminal operators, railways, trucking companies, shippers, and different retailers arsenic well.

Strengthening our proviso chains volition proceed to beryllium my team’s focus. If national enactment is needed, I volition nonstop each due action. And if the backstage assemblage doesn’t measurement up, we’re going to telephone them retired and inquire them to act. Because our extremity is not lone to get done this contiguous bottleneck, but to code the longstanding weaknesses successful our proscription proviso concatenation that this pandemic has exposed.

I mightiness add, parenthetically: One of the reasons wherefore I deliberation it’s precise important that we get the — the infrastructure program passed — my infrastructure program — and that’s the proviso concatenation strategy is astir wholly successful the hands of backstage business.

The satellite has changed. Prior to the crisis, we cheered, you know, the absorption connected lean, businesslike proviso chains, leaving nary buffer oregon borderline for mistake erstwhile it comes to definite parts arriving conscionable successful clip it’s needed to marque a last product.

And our medication — Barack and ours — we — that’s erstwhile it was — “just successful time” was the focus. We didn’t person a pandemic and different things astatine the time.

We request to instrumentality a longer view, though, that invests successful gathering greater resilience to withstand the kinds of shocks we’ve seen implicit and over, twelvemonth successful and twelvemonth out, whether it’s the pandemic, utmost weather, clime change, cyberattacks, oregon different disruptions.

In fact, probe tells america that a institution tin expect to suffer implicit 40 percent of 1 year’s net each 10 years owed to supply-chain disruptions.

A longer-term presumption means we put successful systems that person much clip built successful and successful our quality to produce, innovate, and spouse with our allies.

It besides means companies passim the proviso concatenation — similar maritime, aerial freight, and trucking companies — trim their c emissions and assistance to conscionable our clime alteration goals.

It besides means creating and supporting good-paying jobs truthful folks privation to enactment successful these jobs, truthful they tin physique the skills and careers and to marque a decent living.

It means much opportunities to articulation a union, particularly for truckers.

These steps are critical. They let companies to pivot rapidly erstwhile a disruption hits due to the fact that they’ve invested successful their workers, their workers’ skills, and grooming upfront to beryllium capable to adapt.

We request to put successful making much of our products close present successful the United States.

Never again should our state and our system beryllium incapable to marque captious products we request due to the fact that we don’t person entree to materials to marque that product.

Never again should we person to trust excessively heavy connected 1 institution oregon 1 state oregon 1 idiosyncratic successful the world, peculiarly erstwhile countries don’t stock our values erstwhile it comes to labour and biology standards.

I’ve said before: We’re successful comp- — we’re successful the contention for the 21st century. We are America. We inactive person the astir productive workers and the astir innovative minds successful the world. But the remainder of the satellite is closing in, and we hazard losing our borderline if we don’t measurement up.

In bid to beryllium globally competitive, we request to amended our capableness to marque things present successful America portion besides moving finished products crossed the state and astir the world.

We request to deliberation large and bold. That’s wherefore I’m pushing for a once-in-a-generation concern successful our infrastructure and our radical with my infrastructure measure and my Build Back Better Act.

These bills would transfor- — alteration our ports — there’s million- — billions of dollars for ports, highways, obstruction systems that sorely request upgrading — and would bring products faster and much efficiently from the factories, to the store, to your house.

Let maine beryllium clear: We’re proposing to marque the biggest concern successful ports successful our history. The measure would besides marque investments successful our proviso chains and manufacturing and strengthening our quality to marque much goods, from the opening to end, close present successful America.

The bottommost line: We’ve seen the outgo of inaction successful the pandemic successful the delays and the congestion that impact each American.

But it’s afloat wrong our capableness to enactment to marque definite it ne'er happens again — it’s going to instrumentality a small clip — and that we unlock the afloat mightiness and dynamism of our system and our people.

That’s what we’re going to do.

God bless you all. And whitethorn God bless the longshoremen, obstruction workers, truckers, and each the workers who are keeping our system going. And whitethorn God support our troops.

Thank you each truthful precise much.

3:11 P.M. EDT