To ease congestion in ports, the White House pushes people to work at night and on weekends

The Port of Los Angeles and the American Dockworkers Union have agreed to work even harder at night and on weekends, reducing the queues that prevent many products from being delivered, White House officials said Wednesday.

Many companies, including Walmart, FedEx and UPS, have promised to work hard at night to deliver their containers quickly from ports.

US President Joe Biden is set to discuss these new initiatives with officials of these organizations at a virtual roundtable.

Extending the operating hours of Los Angeles Harbor could quickly sell off several containers waiting to be unloaded from ships for several days, as the California port of Long Beach has already done in mid-September.

These restrictions on ports add to a myriad of logistics challenges that have shaken supply chains around the world in recent months.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the disruption, along with the random vaccine around the world, was hampering global growth.

U.S. Economy Secretary Janet Yellen promised in an interview on CBS that gifts would be given for Christmas, calling on Americans not to panic amid delays and shortages.

The reasons for this congestion are many. Since the onset of the epidemic many companies have been plagued by continuous pollution caused by the exploitation of raw materials or manufactured goods.

Consumers have ordered bulk items for entertainment or home use because they cannot go to restaurants or cinema.

Many companies are currently struggling to recruit for key positions in the supply chain, from material handlers to truck drivers.

But delivery delays in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where 40% of containers are shipped to the United States, exacerbate the problem.

These two ports have already increased their capabilities, but moving to continuous service will further accelerate the pace as the holidays approach.

The American Dockworkers Union (ILWU) has said its members are willing to work overtime.