The White House’s supply chain envoy said the ports and logistics industry must move toward automation, a sticking point in protracted contract talks between U.S. West Coast dockworkers and their employers.

Supply chains across the world are healing up almost as fast as they broke down. That doesn’t mean the pressure they’re exerting on inflation will disappear as quickly.

A year ago in early January, a record 109 containerships carrying U.S. imports surrounded the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif. — as of today, the queue is gone.

President Joe Biden is taking on the concentrated market power of ocean shipping companies, although officials at the agency overseeing the industry indicated they lack both the jurisdiction and, for now, any evidence of wrongdoing.

The bottlenecked ports in Los Angeles face a narrow window between now and midyear to clear container backlogs before another import surge and union contract talks threaten to stall progress moving record volumes of cargo through the busiest U.S. gateway for trade.

U.S. supply chains have a chance to return to more normal operations after retailers replenish inventories next quarter, even if the next peak shipping season arrives sooner than usual, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said Feb. 9.

The Port of Long Beach moved record cargo volumes last year amid an import surge and supply chain snarl brought on by the pandemic.

The Port of Los Angeles, the U.S.’s largest for container traffic, has deferred a plan to charge ocean carriers that fail to clear empty containers off the docks and is consulting with the logistics industry on alternatives on how to cut the backlogs.

President-elect Donald Trump’s “massive” infrastructure plan probably will come “sometime this summer,” Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said at an aviation industry lunch in Washington.