President Biden and his administration — allegedly including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — pledged last week that they were on top of the supply chain crisis that's further fueling inflation and product shortages. Rather than their words spurring quick action or substantive fixes, the crisis continues to spread.
And while much of the White House's messaging and media coverage has been on the Pacific ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, America's Atlantic ports are having issues too.
At the Port of Savannah, roughly 80,000 containers have piled up in and around the facility. And even The New York Times — usually sympathetic to Democrat messaging priorities — is calling out the crisis. One it says in its report "is likely to persist."
The supply chain crisis that's spun out of control on Biden and Buttigieg's watch has "forced ships to wait at sea for more than nine days" while attempting to unload in Savannah. "On a recent afternoon, more than 20 ships were stuck in the queue, anchored up to 17 miles off the coast in the Atlantic," notes The New York Times. "That these tensions are playing out even in Savannah attests to the magnitude of the disarray."
As a result of the supply chain crisis' impact at the Port of Savannah, the third- and fifth- largest container shipping companies announced that their Atlantic fleets would not seek to offload in Savannah for the time being, instead choosing to make calls in Charleston, South Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida.
For the time being, two ocean services will not call Georgia’s busy Port of Savannah.https://t.co/xekY29Pz3N
— American Shipper (@AmericanShipper) October 13, 2021
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CNN, also typically reticent to highlight problems caused by the Biden administration's mismanagement, had a reporter on the ground in Savannah reporting on the "staggering" impact of the supply chain crisis.
Noting that under normal conditions "shipping containers will sit at the terminal for about four to five days," CNN reported that "the average is now about twelve days." And in addition to the backlog on land, "out at sea, we're talking about a major traffic jam" in which cargo ships sit "waiting for up to about five days to just drop off their goods."
Even CNN can't ignore the "staggering" supply chain crisis that's continuing to worsen under President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg at American ports on both coasts. pic.twitter.com/Dk754lyXWJ
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) October 19, 2021
As things in Savannah, Los Angeles, and New York remain backed up, Florida's ports in Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa Bay, and Panama City have capacity to handle more cargo ahead of the busy holiday season for retailers and consumers.
On Tuesday — as Leah covered here — Governor Ron DeSantis (R) touted Florida's investment in the state's seaports while throwing a jab in Biden's direction. "While other U.S. ports are just now announcing around-the-clock operations, in Florida many of our ports are used to serving Florida farmers, families and businesses with 24 hour operations," DeSantis said, just days after Biden urged the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to begin non-stop operations.
"As the rest of the nation faces rampant inflation and businesses stare down unprecedented supply chain problems, our message is this," DeSantis added: "Florida is here, we have capacity, we have incentive packages to help businesses who want to move here and we are going to make sure Americans get their Christmas Gifts this season."
As DeSantis offers his state's ports to alleviate some pressure on other overwhelmed facilities, Democrats and their media allies have found a new strategy. As Katie reported, their latest solution is to tell Americans to simply get over the issues caused by Biden's inflation and supply chain crises.
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