Biden says Port of Los Angeles open 24/7 to reverse supply chain delays
Delivering remarks at the White House on Wednesday, President Biden said that the Port of Los Angeles will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in an effort to curb recent supply chain congestion in the U.S.
Video Transcript
JOE BIDEN: Los Angeles and Long Beach are home to two of the largest ports in America. And together, these ports are among the largest in the world. And the best way to make that point is that 40%, 40% of shipping containers that we import into this country come through these two ports. And today, we have some good news. We're going to help speed up the delivery of goods all across America.
After weeks of negotiation and working with my team and with the major union retailers and freight movers, the ports of Los Angeles-- the Port of Los Angeles announced today that it's going to be begin operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This follows the Port of Long Beach's commitment to 24/7 that it announced just weeks ago. 24/7 system, what most of the leading countries in the world already operate on now, except us, until now. This is the first key step toward moving our entire freight, transportation, and logistical supply chain nationwide to a 24/7 system.
And here's why it matters. Traditionally, our ports have only been open during the week, Monday through Friday. And they're generally closed down at nights and on weekends. By staying open seven days a week through the night and on the weekends, the Port of Los Angeles will open over 60 extra hours a week will be open. In total, that will almost double the number of hours that the port is open for business from earlier this year. That means an increase in the hours for workers to be moving cargo off ships onto trucks and rail cars to get to their destination.
And more than that, the night hours are critical for increasing the movement of goods. Because highways, highways are less crowded in the evening, at night. In fact, during off-peak hours in Los Angeles, cargo leaves the port at a 25% faster pace than during the day shift. So by increasing the number of late night hours of operation and opening up for less crowded hours when the goods can move faster, today's announcement has the potential to be a game changer.
