LOS ANGELES—President Joe Biden announced on Oct. 13 that the Port of Los Angeles will begin operating around the clock to ease a historic backlog of goods parked offshore—brought on by the pandemic—but cautioned that all chinks in the chain of providing goods to U.S. consumers would additionally need to step up operations.
Along with Biden’s announcement, White House officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, met virtually with local port industry executives on Oct. 13 to discuss the need to recruit and retain more long-haul truck drivers, a shortage of which has exacerbated the backlog.
