Labor, labor, labor. Everyone needs more labor.
No one foresaw that in addition to the tragic impact on public health and safety, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the supply chain would be like throwing gasoline on a smoldering fire. The need for blue-collar workers, already stretched to the limit, went beyond the breaking point as stimulus money fueled spending on hard goods, rather than travel and leisure, overwhelming many US gateways.
While the ill-informed see ports as the bottlenecks, those in the know realize it’s the upland distribution network’s inability to handle the avalanche of cargo that is causing congestion.
Fortunately, although not without its challenges, the Port of New York and New Jersey has not suffered a supply chain meltdown like those seen in other gateways. This was no accident. The longshore workforce in New York–New Jersey has worked tirelessly around the clock to keep the port fluid, and employers are in the process of adding several hundred more longshore workers to bolster the workforce.
Since 2014, New York–New Jersey port stakeholders have collectively identified and, where possible, tackled supply chain challenges in the gateway through the Council on Port Performance (CPP). From the very beginning of the pandemic, when protocols for health and safety were the focus, to later as the volume ramped up, the CPP met regularly to try to head off problems before they became insurmountable.
The CPP has also worked closely with local communities and institutions of higher learning to develop curriculum and prepare youngsters in the local communities for careers in the supply chain. The workforce development initiative is the key to future success. The challenge is that the future arrived much more quickly than anyone calculated.