From Christmas toys to clothing and auto parts,\u00a0shortages of imported products are forcing\u00a0factories to idle,\u00a0store shelves to sit empty and\u00a0consumers to panic. What else is in short supply? The truth about what\u2019s causing this economic crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Joe Biden, who brags about running \u201cthe most pro-union administration in history,\u201d won\u2019t admit that longshoremen\u2019s unions are holding the nation hostage, refusing to allow the use of automated equipment to unload container ships and get the goods onto trucks faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States is the world\u2019s largest importer, but its major ports, at Los Angeles and Long Beach, rank a dismal 328 and 333 in the\u00a0World Bank\u2019s Port Performance Index.\u00a0That means nightmare inefficiency, worse than most Third World countries. Not one US port made it into the top 50 for speed and efficiency. In contrast, Japan\u2019s Yokohama port ranks No. 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly 100 container ships have been waiting off the Los Angeles coastline to be unloaded. The longer they wait, the more prices for imported goods rise, clobbering consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last Wednesday, Biden announced a \u201cgame-changer,\u201d saying the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would stay open more hours for a \u201c90-day sprint\u201d to Christmas. Truth is, most ports around the world operate 24\/7. Port operators here haven\u2019t done that in the past, because union contracts require paying higher hourly rates for night and weekend labor. Dockworkers already average $171,000 a year. Wednesday\u2019s announcement was a concession from port operators, not the unions<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But increased hours won\u2019t fix the bottlenecks. The added hours will boost cargo movement by less than 10 percent or an\u00a0estimated 3,500 containers a week. The real problem is the unions\u2019 tooth-and-nail opposition to labor-saving equipment. Cranes in automated ports\u00a0operate at least twice as fast as cranes in outdated US ports. Biden\u2019s port czar, John Porcari, let the truth out when he said last week it\u2019s \u201cyour grandfather\u2019s infrastructure that we\u2019re dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n