By Ashley  Kao         Photo by Mariah Dalusong 

The backlog of cargo in US ports is mainly due to the continuous impacts of the Covid-19, and different times of countries’ recovery, which reveal the problems of global economy.

US President Joe Biden urged the private sector to help ease supply chain blockages that are threatening to disrupt that US holiday season in October’s meeting. The cargo backlog in the ports of LA/LB became a major problem because it represented 40% of total US cargo imports. Multi-party representatives also agreed to cooperative with all day operations. Increase manpower during non-peak hours and speed up logistics procedures to ensure the ports operate all day.

The big reason is that the Covid-19 and different times of countries’ recovery, which caused an imbalance in the supply and demand. As the pandemic eases, these cycles will eventually balance each other. However, the chaos in the ports has brought attention to bigger problems in the global economy. As time changes, the technologies and skills-displacing have also affected workers, and the over-reliance on Asia to supply a variety of key products.

First, its not just the supply chain that is responsible for the recruitment difficulties in some industries, technology improving, and policy choices are also factors. For example, before the pandemic, it was already difficult to recruit people for positions such as dock workers and truck drivers in the US, partly because mainly training programs have been stopped in recent years, and they have been warned for a long time that automation policies may take over their jobs. Many jobs indeed have been replaced by machines and robots in recent years, and more jobs will be replaced. The Covid-19 and political impact only intensify this trend.

The US government pointed out that the supply chain is very tight, with nearly a hundred container ships queue outside major ports of LA/LB. The US government is confident that the problems can be solved. There may be a shortage of goods and services in the next few months, but the goods are quite sufficient, consumers have no reason to panic-buying for the holidays.

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