John D Porcari port envoy to US Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force

In his earlier role with the government, Porcari was directly involved in overseeing port, inter-modal, maritime policy and maritime-related competitive grant programmes throughout the country.

The Task Force was established in June last year to address supply and demand mismatches that emerged in several sectors as the economy reawakened following the US administration’s vaccination and economic relief efforts.

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of significant global economic anxiety due to the evolving crisis in Ukraine and mounting challenges to America’s already stressed supply chain, industry leaders representing 49 associations have sent a letter to the White House urging the administration for ‘early and persistent’ engagement in the impending contract negotiations between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).

The US west coast ports account for over 44 per cent of nationwide container port traffic. With negotiations yet to formally begin ahead of the contract’s July 1 expiration, uncertainty is already disrupting freight strategies and operations on the ground, the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) noted in a press release.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is also encouraging ILWU and PMA to begin contract negotiations well before June 30 this year.

“NRF’s members are continuing to adjust to the ongoing supply chain disruptions. Any kind of additional disruptions at the ports would add further costly delays to our members’ supply chains and likely add to inflation concerns and further threaten the economic recovery. Many members are already looking to put in place mitigation strategies to address additional disruptions related to the contract negotiations,” the letter written by NRF to ILWU and PMA leadership stated.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)