President Joe Biden’s administration announced Tuesday that Retired Gen. Stephen Lyons, former commander of the U.S. Transportation Command would be its appointee as the new Port and Supply Chain Envoy for the Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force.
Lyons, the administration said, will work with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), the White House National Economic Council (NEC), ports, rail, trucking, and other private companies to address supply chain issues to speed up the movement of goods, and lower costs for American 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,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “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. We are grateful that General Lyons, formerly commander of the U.S. 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.”
Since last year, the Biden-Harris Administration’s Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force has reached out and engaged with the country’s ports and private companies to address supply chain bottlenecks to build a more resilient, globally competitive good movement system.
In addition to working with ports to propose a container dwell fee to reduce congestion, the task force has also launched a trucking action plan to recruit and retain more drivers, as well as funded pop-up container yards to get goods on shelves faster, and moved supply chain operators toward 24/7 operations. A data-sharing effort, Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW), that brings together Target, FedEx, UPS, and True Value, with shippers, ports, and other stakeholders has been implanted to reduce shipping costs and lower consumer pricing.
“During a time of historic global supply chain challenges as a result of the pandemic, the Supply Chains Task Force and Port Envoy John Porcari helped ensure Americans could get what they need while supporting the fastest labor market recovery in history,” said NEC Director Brian Deese. “There is nobody better to pick up this important work than Retired General Lyons as we continue to address these challenges and move toward sustained economic growth.”
The administration said the actions are working – reducing long-dwelling containers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach by 50 percent, as well as dropping the total number of container ships waiting to enter U.S. ports by nearly 50 percent. Both the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports recorded record months in April in terms of throughput.
Lyons said he would further that progress.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has made tremendous progress on addressing the supply chain disruptions we’ve seen as we recover from the pandemic,” said Retired General Lyons, Ports and Supply Chain Envoy to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Task Force on Supply Chain Disruptions. “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.”