Call for help

Danny Wan, Port of Oakland executive director, issued the warning in his role as president of the California Association of Port Authorities (CAPA). He said the state’s ports are suffering from underinvestment. In May, US$250m of funding was announced to help California’s public ports recover from Covid-19 losses.

“The current congestion that we see today is a result of decades of underinvestment in our ports and supply chain,” Wan said at the California Legislature’s Select Committee on Ports and Good Movement. “Notably there is an 11-to-1 imbalance in federal transportation and waterside spending on other port complexes around the country compared to those in our state.”

More federal funding

Government assistance at all levels is needed to further ease supply chain congestion, Wan urged legislators. More federal port funding must go to California, he said, adding that west coast ports were under funded by comparison relative to their degree of national economic importance and jobs generation.

According to CAPA, more than 1m California jobs and 3m jobs nationally are linked to trade through CAPA member ports. California port activities generate an estimated US$9bn in state and local tax revenue annually.

In addition to a state-funded supply chain investment fund, Wan asked for long-term state and federal infrastructure investment at ports; land dedicated to cargo container storage; training centres throughout the state to develop a stronger supply chain workforce; and creation of a California freight policy that can authorise emergency action in times of cargo congestion.

“The global congestion caused by our broken supply chain requires public policy changes that can be addressed by our state leaders,” Wan stressed.