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8/30/2021
The Biden-Harris administration last week announced that John Porcari, former secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation, will be the port envoy to the Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force.
The task force was established in June to address supply-and-demand mismatches that emerged in several sectors as the economy reawakened following the administration’s vaccination and economic relief efforts.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leads the task force's focus on ports and trucking issues. The task force’s leadership also includes U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for food and agriculture, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo for homebuilding and semiconductors, according to a news release.
Porcari will work with Buttigieg and his team at the U.S. Department of Transportation as well as the National Economic Council to address the congestion at U.S. ports, according to the release.
Disruptions in global shipping and rapid shifts in demand have led the cost of shipping containers between China and the West Coast to grow more than 90% compared to 2019. The congestion is being felt particularly acutely at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together handle the largest share of containerized cargo moving through U.S. ports. Port workers and terminals have handled containerized cargo volumes that rose 40% in the first half of this year compared to the same time last year.