supply chain News Updates

Fruit, nuts and wine are again flowing through the Port of Oakland after truckers quietly ended a multiday blockade over the weekend amid a crackdown on AB 5 protesters by port authorities.

About 450 dockworkers did not report to work at California’s third-busiest port, Port of Oakland, July 21 as truckers protesting the AB 5 gig-work law blocked access to the operation for a fourth day.

The Port of New York and New Jersey is struggling to process cargo despite expanded gate hours, illustrating fresh difficulties plaguing supply chains as shippers redirect goods to avoid bottlenecks in other parts of the country.

The Senate’s bipartisan bill to strengthen the nation’s technology sector in the face of Chinese competition was estimated July 21 to increase U.S. budget deficits by $79 billion over a decade if enacted.

A drive in the Senate to quickly pass $52 billion in grants and incentives for U.S. semiconductor manufacturing picked up steam in Congress despite last-minute lobbying for changes.

Rock guitarist Jack White, who extended his “Supply Chain Issues Tour” into October, might want to name his band’s next road trip after a different villain. That’s because supply strains, while still afflicting many consumers and businesses, are becoming more mundane.

Efforts by national freight rail carriers to increase efficiency are having the opposite effect, a union official said July 12. Demoralized workers are leaving the industry, causing delays and damage to the national supply chain, said Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.

Truckers servicing the California port gateways of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland staged protests July 13 as state-level labor rules that change their employment status begin to go into effect, creating another potential choke point in stressed U.S. supply chains.

An indicator of U.S. supply chain pressure fell to the lowest level in two years, as a sharp drop in transportation costs underscores the slowdown in the nation’s economy heading into the second half of the year.

The union representing about 22,000 West Coast dockworkers and their employers will continue negotiations for a new labor contract past the July 1 expiration of their current pact and said the ports — among them the U.S.’s busiest — will keep functioning.