Biden

Governmental policies and regulations have become an integrated part of supply chain life

Joe Biden’s EPA initiative proposes that 25% of heavy truck sales in the US should be electric vehicles by 2032, paving the way for a cleaner, greener tomorrow.

A group of national industry associations, largely representing shippers and freight transportation and logistics services providers, called on President Joe Biden, in a letter, to take action, regarding the still-unresolved West Coast port labor negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).

There used to be a time when terms like supply chain, infrastructure, and others related to the logistics-focused worlds we live in would get little, if any, attention, in a State of the Union (SOTU) address. Well, it is fair to say, that has clearly changed and was on full display in President Biden’s address to the nation last night.

As the clock ticks towards December 9, the end of the status quo, or “cooling off” period, for the four remaining railroad labor groups yet to ratify the terms of the tentative agreements with United States-based Class I freight railroad carriers, President Biden yesterday called on Congress to pass legislation to “adopt the Tentative Agreement between railroad workers and operators—without any modifications or delay—to avert a potentially crippling national rail shutdown.”

In an effort to quell further supply chain disruptions, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) late last week to establish a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) focused on resolving a labor dispute between Class I rail carriers and 12 U.S.-based rail labor unions on reaching labor accord. The establishment of the PEB went into effect on July 18.

Not long after President Biden stated that the White House is discussing dropping tariffs levied against China by his predecessor Donald Trump, the Washington, D.C.-based National Retail Federation (NRF) penned a letter to Biden to “request immediate tariff relief to address the ongoing inflation facing American businesses, workers, and consumers.”

The first task was passing President Joe Biden’s massive $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, his signature accomplishment of his first two years in office. Now comes an equally arduous challenge: making sure that money is spent as it was intended without the waste and inefficiency that sometimes marks spending by the federal government.

One issue, which prior to the pandemic was high on many stakeholders’ list, is tariffs, something that has since been ostensibly left to the wayside. But, now, there is a chance that could be changing, based on some comments recently made by President Biden. While his comments were brief, they were telling all the same, simply saying that the White House is discussing dropping tariffs levied against China by his predecessor Donald Trump.

The White House went into overdrive at an April 4 event to showcase President Joe Biden’s working-class roots as well as his administration’s progress in easing the truck driver shortage and unclogging supply chains. Biden hosted the event at the White House along with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Nine professional truck drivers and nearly two dozen CEOs from companies aligned with the American Trucking Associations were in attendance.

There was no shortage of feedback stemming from President Biden’s comments about the ocean shipping sector made during his State of the Union (SOTU) address earlier this week.

President Joe Biden took his $1.2 trillion infrastructure victory lap Monday, culminating an up-and-down 25-year investment drive to upgrade this nation’s roads, bridges, air, waterway and broadband connections.

After being held political hostage for three months, a transformational infrastructure package that includes $550 billion in new spending on highways, bridges and other transport measures finally passed a contentious Congress. It’s worth upward of $1.2 trillion, depending on estimates.

Economic recovery and pandemic relief upstage harsher rules on truckers, as the overall industry applauds productivity goals. In the meantime, big environmental rules loom at EPA, while one large TL carrier wants to speed up the process to obtain a Commercial Driver’s License.

Ocean ships backed up by the dozens at both East and West Coast ports. Railroad delays worsening in the critical hub of Chicago. Truckers short of drivers and perplexed by uneven orders that make long-term planning nearly impossible. The nation’s supply chain, once a humming model of efficiency, has turned into an expensive, unreliable mix of COVID-related delays and inefficiencies worsen in the peak freight season.