The largest U.S. retail lobby has called on Congress to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and update shipping laws and trucking laws to ease the supply chain crisis, which is driving up prices and causing shortages.
Lawmakers “can help retailers keep store shelves stocked and address some of the problems plaguing supply chains by acting on some critical pieces of legislation,” the National Retail Federation, which represents sellers from family-owned stores to big box chains, said Tuesday in a blog post.
Bottlenecks in the manufacturing, transportation, retail and labor sectors have deteriorated to the point that the Biden administration has created a task force to address the bottlenecks ahead of the holiday shopping season.
House passage of the infrastructure bill that passed the Senate in early August would make funds available to upgrade ports, roads and bridges, which would help “save our shipments,” according to the NRF.
An outdated federal regulation prohibits truckers between the ages of 18 and 20 from driving across state lines, exacerbating a driver shortage that the American Trucking Associations estimates at about 80,000, according to the federation. The bipartisan Drive Safe Act, which was reintroduced as a bill in the House of Representatives in March, would allow legal operation of a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce by commercial driver’s license holders under the age of 21.
In a July executive order, President Joe Biden referred to uncompetitive practices in the container shipping industry – where 85% of capacity is controlled by about 10 major carriers – and called on the Federal Maritime Commission to vigorously enforce rules so that exporters are not hit with “exorbitant charges.”
Ocean freight rates to bring goods from China to U.S. West Coast ports reached a record $20,586 per 40-foot container and, at more than $16,000, remain several times higher than the pre-pandemic average of $1,590.
Passage of the bipartisan Shipping Reform Act would establish minimum service requirements for contracts to ensure that charters are not unreasonably rejected, and would equip the commission with new enforcement tools, according to the NRF.
