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Retired Gen. Stephen R. Lyons appointed as the new envoy to the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force
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Lyons’ appointment comes amid the US supply chain sector’s concern about a “tsunami of containers” after Shanghai lifts its lockdown and Chinese factories ramp up production
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The former commander of the Transportation Command will work across every level of government, labor, and industry to troubleshoot US supply chain issues
US President Joe Biden has appointed a retired commander of the US Transportation Command to resolve congestion at US seaports that has caused supply chain chaos and increased costs for American families.
The appointment of Retired Gen. Stephen R. Lyons, as the new port and supply chain envoy to the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, was announced on May 27 by the White House and the Department of Transportation.
The retired general will take over the role from John D. Porcari, who has completed his term as envoy to the task force.
Lyons’ appointment comes as traders and shippers worry about the June 1 lifting of the lockdown in China’s financial hub, Shanghai, would swamp ports in the US and elsewhere with a “tsunami of containers” as factories ramp up production and ship out pandemic-delayed orders.
Lyons will work with the Department of Transportation, the White House National Economic Council (NEC), ports, rail, trucking and other private companies across US supply chains to address bottlenecks, speed up goods movement, and help lower costs for US families.
“Envoy John Porcari has done a tremendous job addressing challenges at every stage of the supply chain, and goods have moved more quickly and affordably because of his actions,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as tribute to the outgoing envoy.
“Global supply chains will remain fragile as long as the pandemic continues to disrupt ports and factories around the world, and a lot of work remains to reduce shipping delays and costs for American families,” said Buttigieg.
“We are grateful that General Lyons, formerly commander of the US Transportation Command, will now take on the role of Ports and Supply Chain Envoy, working across every level of government, labor, and industry to strengthen America’s supply chains.”
For the past year, the Biden-Harris Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force has engaged US ports and private companies in an outreach to address immediate supply chain bottlenecks and ultimately build a more resilient, globally competitive goods movement chain.
The task force has worked with ports to propose a container dwell fee to reduce congestion at the ports, launched a trucking action plan to recruit and retain more drivers, funded pop-up container yards to get goods from ships to shelves faster while supporting agricultural exporters, and moved supply chain operators toward 24/7 operations.
The task force also launched a data-sharing effort, Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW), with Target, FedEx, UPS, True Value, ocean shippers, ports and additional stakeholders to reduce shipping costs and ultimately consumer costs at the store.
READ: US gov’t unveils FLOW initiative to improve supply chain
In the long term, the implementation of the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will finally make investments needed in US ports, railways, highways, and other modes of transportation to improve the supply chain infrastructure, the DOT said.
Long-dwelling containers at the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach have dropped by about 50% since the proposed fee.
The total number of container ships waiting to enter US ports has dropped nearly 50% since peaking in early February – even as containerized imports grew for most ports in March. And both the Ports of LA and Long Beach had record months in April in terms of container throughput, the DOT said.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has made tremendous progress on addressing the supply chain disruptions we’ve seen as we recover from the pandemic,” said Lyons.
“I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and continuing to engage industry, labor, and port stakeholders to improve the fluidity of our supply chains, cut down on shipping costs, and ultimately save money for the American people.”
