A federal advisory council has recommended that the Biden administration devise a strategy to provide active military, veterans, and National Guardsmen with voluntary and paid truck driving positions to help unload cargo containers from congested ports.
The advice, which is one of several given by the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (ACSCC) earlier this week to address the ongoing freight supply chain crisis, adds to mounting pressure on government agencies to act more quickly.
The recommendation was adopted by the ACSCC, a panel under the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration, on Thursday and will be sent to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
“The objective behind this is that there is a lack of drivers, and I’m learning there is also a shortage of vehicles owing to component shortages,” said ACSCC Vice Chairman Rick Gabrielson, who also operates a logistics consulting firm. “However, after speaking with a number of trucking businesses, it appears that they have trucks parked against the barrier and could use some assistance.” It won’t fix the whole problem, but it might help get some cargo moved and relieve some of the congestion.”
The panel recommends that the Commerce Department collaborate with the Department of Defense, ports, and trucking company executives to “immediately promote and facilitate volunteer opportunities at U.S. trucking companies, as well as compensated activities to the extent allowed” by the Defense Department and ethics rules.
According to a letter to be delivered to Raimondo, “the [Commerce] Department, in collaboration with the Department of Transportation, should collaborate with the United States insurance industry to remove hurdles to this effort.”
Military truck driving experience, according to Gabrielson, is not usually accepted by insurance companies. “Perhaps this is a foundation for people who have served our country and want to continue in that line of work.”
On Thursday, the group also proposed to Raimondo that Congress create a $1,000-per-chassis investment tax credit or refund for U.S. truck chassis manufacturers to spur expanded U.S. truck chassis production. “In the manufacturing process, consideration should be given to the use of radial tires, LED lights, and tracking possibilities,” the panel advised.
A one-time award to any U.S. truck chassis manufacturer that opens a new U.S. production facility and pledges to deliver an agreed-upon minimum quantity of container chassis per year was also included in the suggestion. As an extra measure to solve the chassis deficit, the ACSCC recommended a two-year remission of US countervailing taxes on Chinese chassis.
The panel also recommended that important container ports create a short-term public-private supply chain “congestion crisis collaboration group” that combines all available industry and government resources to expedite container freight between the ports and end customers.
The panel also advised the department to collaborate with other federal agencies to encourage U.S. ports, trucking companies, railroads, and shippers to install cargo location data and information-sharing technologies to help each supply chain link improve cargo movement throughout the ports supply chains.
