Hasn't he missed the boat? Biden rolls out $17billion plan to upgrade aging ports in bid to fix supply-chain chaos as part of infrastructure bill

 President Joe Biden has rolled out a $17billion plan to upgrade aging ports in a bid to fix supply-chain chaos as part of the infrastructure bill. 

The White House outlined the plans on Tuesday - an urgent need as a backlog of ships waiting to dock at major transit hubs has fueled inflation and wreaked supply-chain havoc across the country - but admitted the chaos would not be sorted in time for the holiday season. 

Last week Biden predicted it would be 'two to three months' before the public starts to feel the real effects of the bill because most of the projects at long-term investments rather than short term fixes.  

The upgrades include $4 billion of construction on coastal ports, inland waterways and other corps-eligible facilities, as well as $3.4 billion worth of improvements on obsolete inspection facilities to smooth international trade at the northern and southern borders. 

The announcement comes as shipping backlogs continue to cripple supply chains, with Christmas toys and holiday goodies among the items stranded in the Pacific as freightliners queue for weeks to unload cargo. 

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President Joe Biden has rolled out a $17billion plan to upgrade aging ports in a bid to fix supply-chain chaos as part of the infrastructure bill

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The plans are an urgent need as a backlog of ships waiting to dock at major transit hubs has fueled inflation and wreaked supply-chain havoc across the US

The $1 trillion infrastructure package was passed by Congress last week but Biden is yet to sign the legislation into law. 

Biden is expected at the Port of Baltimore today to lay out the benefits infrastructure bill, emphasizing how the spending can strengthen global supply chains to help lower prices, reduce shortages and add union jobs, according to a White House official.

Biden plans to hold up Baltimore's port as a blueprint on how to reduce shipping bottlenecks that have held back the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. 

The city's port is adding container cranes as well as a 50-foot berth where ships can be unloaded and benefiting from grants to upgrade the Howard Street Tunnel, a brick-lined underpass for trains that opened in 1895. 

The tunnel would be expanded so that shipping containers could be double-stacked on railcars, making it easier to move goods out of the port. 

The infrastructure package includes plans for dredging to allow for larger ships and capacity expansion. Many US ports have bridge or depth limitations that restrict their ability to receive larger vessels, while a surge of cargo is straining land operations at some ports.  

And data sharing among shipping lines, terminal operators, railroads, truckers, warehouses, and cargo owners, will be streamlined to smooth supply chains, a White House source told CNBC.  

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President Joe Biden has tried to avert the crisis during the festive season by touting new commitments from businesses and ports to ease the burden on shoppers

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Shipping containers are held up at a terminal at the Port of Long Beach as supply issues hold up the systemOn Monday evening, in an interview on local television in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Democratic leader insisted it would only be a 'matter of weeks' before the effects of the massive investment plan would start to be seen.

Days earlier he had predicted it would be 'two to three months' before the public starts to see the real effects of the bill on expanding internet networks, roads, bridges, drinking water pipes, electric car charging stations and a slew of other projects.  

The current supply chain crisis has caused a delay in shipping multiple products to stores and warehouses which has resulted in a months-long shortage of multiple products - and warnings that the crisis will get even worse before it improves.

Americans are facing having to swap prime rib roasts, juicy sirloins and filet mignon for cheaper alternatives this year because of inflating meat prices caused by the supply chain issues. 

'Meatflation' has sent the price of meat soaring - a ribeye roast rose by 95 per cent from $8.71 per lb last November to $16.99 per lb this week - because ocean cargo carriers are opting to ferry non-perishable goods like toys and technology over to the US from Asia, instead of taking export jobs of US meat to the rest of the world for fear of not getting the shipments there in time and the food spoiling.

But toys, clothes, home appliances and more may still be in short supply over the holiday season because so many are stuck either in factories in China or in containers on board cargo ships off the coast that are waiting their turn to dock.

At almost every link in the chain, there is a shortage; there aren't enough yard workers to unpack the cargo on the ships quickly enough, nor are there enough drivers able to ferry them around on the ground. 

In stores, retailers don't have enough workers to unpack them once they arrive. 

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Startlingly high prices are appearing in meat aisles across the country in what shoppers have begrudgingly come to know as 'meatflation'. Prices shown reflect an average of retail prices advertised in the week starting November 5. The data was released by the US Department of Agriculture. Every type of beef rose in price, with bone-in ribeye seeing the highest spike of 95% from the same week last year 

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But toys, clothes, home appliances and more may still be in short supply over the holiday season because so many are stuck either in factories in China or in containers on board cargo ships off the coast that are waiting their turn to dock, leading to increasingly barren shelves

Supply chain bottlenecks lead to bare shelves in Central FL Walmart

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Meanwhile the mass congestion of empty containers is monopolizing space in nearby truck lots, blocking filled containers from getting moved, and crippling efficiency.

In order to fetch a new order at the port, trucks must first return their previously-used container to the steamships – but with space at a premium, cargo operators are refusing to accept the empty containers.

Meanwhile, consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in September, slightly higher than August's gain and pushing annual inflation back to its highest increase in 13 years, the Labor Department said last month.

The consumer price index rose 5.4 per cent in September from a year ago, up slightly from August's gain of 5.3 per cent and matching the levels seen in June and July. 

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Biden celebrated the passage of the infrastructure bill with Vice President Kamala Harris on November 6

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The consumer price index rose 5.4 percent in the latest quarter and is expected to still increase

Biden hails the passage of his $1.2T infrastructure bill

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What's included in the new infrastructure bill and how much it will cost

Here's a breakdown of the bill that Biden is expected to soon sign into law:

PORTS: $17 billion

The upgrades include $4 billion of construction on coastal ports, inland waterways and other corps-eligible facilities, as well as $3.4 billion worth of improvements on obsolete inspection facilities to smooth international trade at the northern and southern borders. Upgrades will also include streamlining data sharing among shipping lines, terminal operators, railroads, truckers, warehouses, and cargo owners, across agencies to smooth supply chains.

ROADS AND BRIDGES: $110 billion

The bill would provide $110 billion to repair the nation's aging highways, bridges and roads. According to the White House, 173,000 total miles of America's highways and major roads and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. And the almost $40 billion for bridges is the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system, according to President Joe Biden's administration.

PASSENGER AND FREIGHT RAIL: $66 billion

To reduce Amtrak's maintenance backlog, which has worsened since Superstorm Sandy nine years ago, the bill would provide $66 billion to improve the rail service's 457-mile-long Northeast Corridor as well as other routes. It´s less than the $80 billion Biden - who famously rode Amtrak from Delaware to D.C. during his time in the Senate - originally asked for, but it would be the largest federal investment in passenger rail service since Amtrak was founded 50 years ago.

INTERNET ACCESS: $65 billion

The legislation's $65 billion for broadband access would aim to improve internet services for rural areas, low-income families and tribal communities. Most of the money would be made available through grants to states.

MODERNIZING THE ELECTRIC GRID: $65 billion

To protect against the widespread power outages that have become more frequent in recent years, the bill would spend $65 billion to improve the reliability and resiliency of the nation's power grid. It would also boost carbon capture technologies and more environmentally-friendly electricity sources like clean hydrogen.

WATER AND SEWERS: $55 billion

To improve the safety of the nation's drinking water, the legislation would spend $55 billion on water and wastewater infrastructure. The bill would include $15 billion to replace lead pipes and $10 billion to address water contamination from polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS - chemicals that were used in the production of Teflon and have also been used in firefighting foam, water-repellent clothing and many other items. 

PUBLIC TRANSIT: $39 billion

The $39 billion for public transit in the legislation would expand transportation systems, improve accessibility for people with disabilities and provide dollars to state and local governments to buy zero-emission and low-emission buses. The Department of Transportation estimates that the current repair backlog is more than 24,000 buses, 5,000 rail cars, 200 stations and thousands of miles of track and power systems.

AIRPORTS: $25 billion

The bill would spend $25 billion to improve runways, gates and taxiways at airports and to improve terminals. It would also improve aging infrastructure at air traffic control towers.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: $12.5 billion

The bill would spend $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations, which the administration says are critical to accelerating the use of electric vehicles to curb climate change. It would also provide $5 billion for the purchase of electric school buses and hybrids, reducing reliance on school buses that run on diesel fuel.

PAYING FOR IT

The five-year spending package would be paid for by tapping $210 billion in unspent COVID-19 relief aid and $53 billion in unemployment insurance aid some states have halted, along with an array of other smaller pots of money, like petroleum reserve sales and spectrum auctions for 5G services.