In an effort to untangle continuing national supply chain problems, the federal Department of Transportation has issued a comprehensive report looking at both the ongoing problems with the supply chain, as well as actions both taken and still needed to speed up the movement of goods.
The report, Supply Chain Assessment of the Transportation Industrial Base: Freight and Logistics, notes that in recent months the Department of Transportation has worked to successfully reduce congestion at the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Savannah.
Improvements at Savannah have additionally seen the creation of smaller inland ports, at a cost of $7 million, leading to “decreases in container dwell times and the number of ships at anchor outside the port.”
A Short-Term Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force established last summer by President Biden, says the report, has pushed ports across the country toward 24/7 operations, reducing in the process the number of containers sitting on docks.
Meanwhile, an initiative called the Trucking Action Plan is both recruiting new truck drivers while improving the “quality of existing jobs to tackle the profession’s persistently low retention rates.”
The action plan includes an apprenticeship program for truck drivers between the ages of 18 and 21 and emphasizing “safety through rigorous training standards, driver compensation studies, a driver leasing task force, and more.”
In a statement accompanying the report, it was noted that the Transportation Department has just announced funding of up to $450 million for the nation’s ports to take on any number of infrastructure upgrades from “constructing new berths, to restoring docks to extending rail lines, and more.”
The report additionally calls for a greater overall investment in all phases of freight infrastructure and improved supply chain data and research, along with “partnering with stakeholders across the supply chain, including coordination with both the public and private sector.”
By Garry Boulard
