Christmas time is coming, and the current US ports congestion is one of the biggest concerns. With many vessels waiting to offload their cargo, the goods may arrive too late, even after the holidays.
Nevertheless, Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida, thinks that there is still time to save Christmas.
During a recent press conference, DeSantis expressed his concern about the consequences of these busy times just weeks before holidays. “You see all of these problems with the shipping and not being able to get goods. We don’t even know if the kids will get toys for Christmas”, he said. As a solution, he urges the Florida Ports to help handle the situation and offers some help to the Californian ports with this congestion.
As 82 ships are waiting for offloading at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, politicians like DeSantis are persuading carriers to change the route for the state of Florida.
As a result, he has declared the Florida ports “open, uncongested, and ready to come to the rescue.”
Furthermore, Michael Rubin, President, and CEO of the Florida Ports Council (FPC) said: “We have the opportunity to provide shipping lines and beneficial cargo owners a more efficient route that can get their product not only to the third-largest domestic market in the country but also to other markets outside of Florida within two days.”
On the other hand, the port of Jacksonville has announced that it will offer incentives to the companies that move their cargo through the port. Some other members of Congress proposed plans to motivate container lines to avoid the ports of southern California. According to The LoadStar, their plan would take $125m of unused money from the CARES Act, a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill introduced by the previous administration.
“Like Florida, several states in the Gulf and eastern seaboard have both the port capacity and the logistics capabilities to ensure goods reach our shelves in a timely and efficient manner,” said the congressman, Carlos Gimenez.
However, this last proposal was questioned by some carriers who noted that re-routing a vessel is not that easy because they have to ensure all the process is under control (chassis, trucks, and rail capacity, and more). But also, the routing should fit with the needs of the customers is not always the carrier´s decision.