White House Port and Supply Chain Envoy has visited the Port of Oakland to address on-going supply chain issues in the US.
Retired General Stephen R. Lyons toured the port on 29 August and met with port officials and stakeholders to observe maritime operations and Oakland’s port terminal activities.
“I am committed to looking for ways to stabilise the entire supply chain across the nation and restore consumer confidence in the system, and the Port of Oakland plays an important role in our nation’s freight network,” said General Lyons.
The Port of Oakland has been suffering from ongoing supply chain issues exacerbated by disruption by independent truckers protesting the state law AB5.
Although port operations have resumed, Oakland reported a 28 per cent year-on-year drop in volumes in July as congestion and strike action hindered operations.
“We fully appreciate General Lyons coming to Oakland to see our operations and explore solutions to the current supply chain congestion,” added Port of Oakland Executive Director, Danny Wan.
“Oakland has been a decades-long port of choice for agricultural exports; we need to restore a full complement of services here to help all of our customers move their goods.”
In the afternoon, General Lyons met with agricultural exporters, importers, and maritime terminal operators, who shared their concerns on how operations are currently impacted by disruptions at various supply chain points such as:
- Overflowing warehouses,
- Lack of labour at distribution centres,
- Equipment shortages,
- Need for more vessel services to increase export capacity, and
- Need to move imports off marine terminals faster and reduce cargo dwell time.
“We continue to look for creative ways to reduce port congestion and supply chain disruptions, including building infrastructure and increased transparency of data to increase the fluidity of commerce through our port,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director, Bryan Brandes.
The project includes electrical infrastructure including solar generation, battery storage systems, a fuel cell, and the replacement of a substation and connecting circuitry.