PORT DELAYS

According to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seraka, unloading ships at ports on the West Coast has become more efficient and fewer workers are missing shifts due to COVID-19 infections.¹ In addition, smaller ports around the country such as Cleveland (+ 69%), Galveston (+ 13%) and Jacksonville (+ 10%) have seen huge increases in their traffic helping alleviate some backlog at larger ports. ²

TRUCKER SHORTAGES

The Trucking Action Plan rolled out in December of 2021 made necessary and quick corrections to some of the challenges facing the trucking industry. Those issues include high turnover rates, an aging workforce, and long hours. With 72% of our goods shipped via truck, the need for good, safe, and stable trucking jobs is critical. The Transportation Action Plan offers accelerated programs for truckers to receive training and their CDLs, career initiatives, and veteran-focused recruitment.³ The result has been pay increases between 7-12% in the past year. The Department of Transportation provided $57 million to help states expedite commercial driver’s license issuances, resulting in a 112% increase in CDL processing in the first two months of 2022 as compared to the same time period the prior year.

Sources:
1) Supplychaindrive.com
2) Fox Business
3) Whitehouse.gov
4) TransportationDrive.com