Biden slams "sky-high" shipping costs! This important bill will be introduced to intervene

It is learned that according to foreign media reports, on June 10, US President Biden issued a warning to nine major international shipping companies, urging Congress to quickly pass the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 to combat soaring shipping costs.

The bill is part of the administration's plan to ease the current high inflation. The proposal would authorize the Federal Maritime Commission to conduct self-investigations of carriers' business practices and provide a way for shippers to seek financial relief when they are subject to unreasonable fines.

"I'm calling on Congress to crack down on foreign-owned shipping companies that are raising prices while pocketing $190 billion in profits, a seven-fold increase in one year," Biden said.

Biden has been an active supporter of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act bill, releasing a video on Thursday urging the House to pass the bill to address year-over-year price increases in shipping prices of up to 1,000%.

In a video, Wade Miquelon, president and CEO of JoAnn Stores, complained to Biden over the phone that the price increase added nearly $100 million in costs.

“We’re not a super-large company, but the $100 million in growth they passed on to us was more than our entire profit,” Miquelon said.

Hal Lawton, president and CEO of Tractor Supply, told the president in a separate call that rising container prices alone were causing his costs to rise sharply.

HalLawton pointed out: "We paid $3,500 a container in 2020. Then in September and October last year, we paid $20,000 to more than $25,000."

In addition to his attack on shipping companies, Biden touched on several familiar supply chain themes.

For example, a series of measures have been taken to increase the number of truck drivers, including efforts to speed up the issuance of CDLs and encourage new apprenticeship programs, despite the industry's widespread labor challenges.

Biden described the current highest inflation in the United States in 40 years as a global problem, blaming Russia's invasion of Ukraine for rising prices of oil and food commodities.

Biden also cited a 40% drop in long-term container detention at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Officials attributed the improvement to the threat of detention fees that have been suspending since last fall in coordination with the administration's supply chain task force.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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