On Monday, South Carolina Ports Authority President and CEO Jim Newsome sounded off on the issues with jammed supply chains at ports around the United States.
Newsome told Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” that the ports are “handling record amounts of cargo,” and they are learning the “supply chain infrastructure is very rigid.” He added a fix “won’t happen overnight.”
“We’re handling record amounts of cargo. If you compare us to 2019, we’re up 15 to 20%,” Newsome outlined. “And what we’ve learned is supply chain infrastructure is very rigid. I mean, it is not one factor in the supply chain. It is a combination of components, and it is like a slowdown on the freeway. And there are some structural things that have to be done to fix it. It won’t happen overnight.”
“I think it all starts with the fact there are not enough distribution center capacity,” he added. “So, if you don’t have space in the distribution center, you have to keep your cargo in a container, and it creates a backup in the supply chain. And there’s not a lot of new port capacity being built. We built the only new container terminal in the United States since 2009, and I guess the next brand-new terminal will not be ready until 2030.”
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