Biden hopes fines on lingering cargo ships ease congestion at major U.S. ports

Companies mull ending government contracts over vaccine mandate

Objections among certain vendors over President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors are reaching an inflection point. As the deadline for workforce vaccination approaches, some trucking companies are mulling whether to end their work with the federal government altogether, according to two industry insiders.

Oh, this will make the recovery better… how?

In an interview, the American Trucking Associations’ executive vice president for advocacy Bill Sullivan told POLITICO that some companies may simply decide that the cost of the mandate is not worth the government’s checks. Sullivan said he has raised concerns to the White House, Office of Management and Budget and other executive branch officials. He noted that if companies drop their contracts, it may be harder to get certain foods to troops, transport fuel for military vehicles, or even deploy the National Guard.

But the WH knows what they are doing, don’t they?

But interviews with more than a dozen industry advocates across the aerospace, distribution, defense and trucking sectors – some of whom have also been in discussions with administration officials – reveal they either have little confidence they will be able to meet the Dec. 8 deadline for their workers to receive their first vaccine shot or expressed concerns about difficulties the mandate would pose on their labor force.

But getting rid of competition, those firms friendly with the current admin will benefit.

“As everyone enters their high season, the Administration’s corporate COVID-19 vaccine mandate for government contractors threatens to be a major stumbling block in servicing our customers during the Holidays,” Stephen Alterman, president of the Cargo Airline Association, wrote, according to an email obtained by POLITICO. “This December 8 mandate comes at a time when the industry is already faced with a growing worker shortage — a shortage that is likely to expand if employees decide to quit or retire rather than become vaccinated.”

As if the current admin cares!

The Biden administration says it has allowed businesses plenty of latitude in how they enforce the new vaccine mandates rules, which should ensure there’s no disruption to the busy holiday season. That’s because the administration is allowing businesses to institute their own enforcement measures with employees who refuse to be vaccinated. The White House said it does not recommend that contractors take those employees off the job right away but instead demonstrate they’re making a good faith effort toward getting that person to comply.

Yay right.  Comply or you will be FIRED!

Do as big brother government says, you lowly workers.

LA Port Empty-Container Problem ‘Becoming Worse,’ Trucking Group Says

Restrictions on empty-container returns at major ports are the top issue that needs fixing to help ease U.S. supply-chain bottlenecks, the head of the Harbor Trucking Association said, adding that true round-the-clock operations aren’t yet in place.

Top Issue?

“We are drowning in empty containers here in this harbor and in our trucking yards,” HTA Chief Executive Officer Matt Schrap said in an interview with Ed Ludlow on Bloomberg Television at the Port of Los Angeles Friday. “Right now, we’re literally storing thousands of empty containers, thousands of chassis that we can’t use to move these imports.”

Remove full load, and replace with empty.  How hard is that?

According to port regulations, trucking companies have to make an appointment to pick up a container off the dock, Schrap said. Trucks need a chassis — which are hooked to the vehicles — to collect the import, but unless they bring an empty container to free up the chassis, they’re unable to move the import, Schrap said.

That is standard procedure, is it not?

Schrap said it’s a shortage of productivity and efficiency — not drivers and trucks — that’s causing the supply-chain issues, and that the problems with empty containers are “becoming worse.”

“We have folks who are making one turn per day when they will be doing two to three turns in a normal scenario,” he said. “A lot of that has to do with chassis availability, congestion behind the gates, and these empty containers.”

So once again, this admin FAILED to address the issues, and are making things worse.

Schrap said there are more than 115,000 empty containers in the Los Angeles port waiting to return to their point of origin.

“That’s on top of another over 10,000 containers that are out in the wild, so to speak, across the Southwest United States, in our truck yards on the streets, grounded, sitting on chassis all over the place,” he said.  “For us, it’s gotten a little more strained, to be honest.”

It seems that the driver’s can’t free up chassis because they are stuck with empty containers, and when they do go to the docks, they can only do it at 1/3 normal rate.  The ports are unloading boats more, but access for the trucks to remove the freight is still limited.

What a mess.

America’s new export problem: 12.1 million shipping containers left biggest U.S. ports empty

But this year, (an exporter) has found it much more difficult to get American hay loaded into shipping containers bound for Asia. The containers, which arrive at the California ports stuffed with iPhones and other manufactured goods, are increasingly being sent back empty. Jackson estimates that his company, which ships around 8,000 40-foot containers a year, has seen volumes fall by 15% to 20% in recent months as a result of canceled bookings and other logistical snags associated with the import-driven congestion at US ports.

Why is that?

“With these ships, with 16,000 to 20,000 containers on board getting $15,000 per [imported] container, they’re deciding we’re going to forgo that U.S. export cargo, it’s not worth it if we can get another sailing inbound of import cargo over the year,”

So it is cheaper and more profitable to NOT take US exports, and only bring in IMPORTS.

What a broken system.

And with the current admin not caring about domestic business/citizens….  it will only get worse.