White House: Samsung, Walmart Expanding to 24/7 Use of Calif. Ports

Samsung and Walmart are among six large companies committing to using newly expanded 24/7 hours at the Port of Los Angeles “to move more cargo off the docks, so ships can come to shore faster,” and ease the "bottlenecks" there and at the Port of Long Beach, said the White House Wednesday. Long Beach expanded to 24/7 operations in mid-September, it said. International Longshore and Warehouse Union members “are willing to work those extra shifts,” said the Biden administration, giving no estimates on the added labor and logistics costs. Samsung is committing to move nearly 60% more containers out of these ports by operating 24/7 through the next 90 days, said the White House. Walmart will increase its use of nighttime hours significantly, “and projects they could increase throughput by as much as 50% over the next several weeks,” it said. Target already is moving about half of its containers at night, and is committing to increasing that volume by 10% during the next 90 days, it said. FedEx, Home Depot and UPS also are expanding operations at the ports to take advantage of the new “off-peak” hours, said the White House: “Across these six companies over 3,500 additional containers per week will move at night through the end of the year.” None of the companies named by the administration responded to requests for comment. All sent representatives to a White House meeting Wednesday with Vice President Kamala Harris, including Samsung Electronics North America CEO KS Choi. “Today’s White House meeting underscores the urgency to strengthen American supply chains to promote economic security, national security, and jobs here at home,” said U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark, who also attended. "We applaud the administration’s engagement in helping to solve this crisis.”