SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As of Monday, there are 159 ships off the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach. These ports bring in about 40% of goods distributed to the entire country.
Assemblymember Patrick O'Donnell (D- Long Beach) is the chair of the Ports and Goods Movement Committee. The Democrat said it’s time to sound the alarm and expect more empty shelves at your neighborhood store. O'Donnell said the backlog of ships will have serious impacts.
"You need to care about this problem because it's going to have real-world consequences," O'Donnell said. "It's going to impact your neighborhood store with empty shelves, and ultimately, your life."
It goes beyond empty shelves.
"It's also manufacturers in California," he added. "In fact, across the United States, that can't get parts to make machines, etc, so they can't make them to operate here and they can't make them to export."
O’Donnell said the problem goes beyond just needing more workers, although important. One problem is a simple steel piece with wheels, called a chassis.
“Those are the wheels that go underneath the containers (to move them)," he explained, "and that's causing a big delay and a big backlog as well, not just the fact that we have full ships, full docks, and warehouses.”
Why not just produce more chassis?
“Most of it is in China, and some of it is in Mexico," O'Donnel said. "So maybe we need to look at bringing some of that production back home, and maybe that's one of the potential solutions.”
Republican Assemblymember Vince Fong also sits on the committee.
“We also need to be investing in more rail and truck capacity at the ports itself," Fong said, "and of course, aligning the hours now that the ports are attempting to go 24/7, we need the distribution centers to also align their hours as well.”
Fong agreed the port backlog needs to be dealt with immediately.
"40% of the goods entering the United States come from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, accounting for over $400 billion of cargo each and every year," Fong said. "There may be up to $65 to $70 billion worth of cargo sitting off the coast of California right now."
Different parties, but both assembly members agreed there needs to be a greater sense of urgency from the state and the Biden administration.
“I think that is another key component of what we're trying to identify tomorrow is not only what are the immediate steps that need to be taken to harden the supply chain, but where are the long term steps and what are what is the responsibility of the state and what is the responsibility of the federal government," Fong said.
"It's fair to sound the alarm that this is a very serious issue," O'Donnell said," and it's also fair to demand that we act now."
The senate and assembly committees are meeting Wednesday at 9:30 am. You can find the link to watch it here.
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