Two major supply chain disruptions in the past four years — the slowdown at our West Coast ports and the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping — have taught us some invaluable lessons regarding how we can capture new efficiencies in this critical part of our nation’s economy.
The first change I expect is increased emphasis on facilitating collaboration among all players in the supply chain. Over the past year, the Department of Commerce hosted four regional roundtables, where stakeholders made it clear that government must play a key role in convening opportunities for supply chain players to work together. The department will soon publish a report setting out best practices for port and supply chain collaboration and information-sharing, and it will continue to host regional roundtables in 2017.
Second, I anticipate that there will be an increased focus on port and supply chain-related infrastructure improvements. Digitalization of our supply chains will be a major part of the conversation, and I hope that the recent announcement by the Port of Los Angeles and GE Transportation on their roll-out of a port information portal will prove to be the first of many similar efforts across the country.
The department recently co-hosted a conference and hackathon with the University of Southern California focusing on the digital transformation of US ports and supply chains. The goal is for the innovative digital tools discussed at the conference and developed during the hackathon to be used to enhance the competitiveness of US ports and supply chains and make them best in class.
Our nation’s ports and supply chains are the lifeblood of our economy. I am confident that applying, and building on, the lessons learned from this past year will lead to improvements that deliver greater prosperity to our people.