Posted on March 28, 2022.

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen has attributed the current supply chain crisis in the US to “the pain of 20 years of not investing in our infrastructure”. He also expressed doubts about the introduction by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach earlier this month of a $100-a-day fine imposed on ocean carriers whose containers linger in marine terminals.

In a recent televised interview with Yahoo Finance, he said of the new excess dwell time fee: “I don't know if this is a good idea or not. I mean, I think the reality is, the reason that the companies aren't picking up their containers is that there's a bottleneck at the gate.

“It's too hard to get an appointment. You can't get your container. Therefore, the fee is just punishing businesses that are already victims of this supply chain crisis. Let's see how it plays out. Maybe there are people just using the port for cheap storage and so this new fee actually helps. But I'm quite skeptical.”

Earlier this week, the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced that they “will delay consideration of the 'Container Dwell Fee' directed at ocean carriers until 22 November given the “significant improvement in clearing import containers from our docks in recent weeks.”Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen has attributed the current supply chain crisis in the US to “the pain of 20 years of not investing in our infrastructure”. He also expressed doubts about the introduction by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach earlier this month of a $100-a-day fine imposed on ocean carriers whose containers linger in marine terminals.

In a recent televised interview with Yahoo Finance, he said of the new excess dwell time fee: “I don't know if this is a good idea or not. I mean, I think the reality is, the reason that the companies aren't picking up their containers is that there's a bottleneck at the gate.

“It's too hard to get an appointment. You can't get your container. Therefore, the fee is just punishing businesses that are already victims of this supply chain crisis. Let's see how it plays out. Maybe there are people just using the port for cheap storage and so this new fee actually helps. But I'm quite skeptical.”

Earlier this week, the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced that they “will delay consideration of the 'Container Dwell Fee' directed at ocean carriers until 22 November given the “significant improvement in clearing import containers from our docks in recent weeks.”

Infrastructure failures

Questioned on the prospect of empty shelves in the aisles of stores in US shopping malls ahead of the holiday season, Petersen replied: “I don’t think it’s that bad. There’s more cargo coming out of these ports. Over the last year, volumes are actually up 20% over pre-pandemic levels. So, there’s a lot of cargo moving in.

“The ‘silver lining’ in all of this is that the cause is consumers buying more stuff than ever before –but our infrastructure, frankly, isn’t ready for it. So, we’re definitely exposed that our infrastructure is going to be a governor on growth.”

He concluded: “It’s going to prevent us from achieving the kind of recovery and opportunity that consumers and the economy want to do right now. And it’s getting held back by dilapidated port infrastructure, by congestion, traffic, of non-automated ports and sort of bad rail connections to the port.

“We’re just recognising the pain of 20 years of not investing in our infrastructure. And we’re feeling all that pain in one year right now.”

Original Post: https://www.lloydsloadinglist.com/freight-directory/adviceandinsight/US-supply-chain-crisis-a-forwarder%E2%80%99s-diagnosis/80364.htm#.YkHtL1XMLIU

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