COVID-19 Update: Swift COVID-19 vaccines urged for largest U.S. ports amid cargo backlogs
Published on 28 January 2021
Reuters 21 January 2021
Members of Congress have joined state and local leaders in urging California officials to hasten COVID-19 vaccinations for workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s two busiest, hit hard by pandemic workforce disruptions and surging imports.
As of Wednesday, 27 arriving container ships stood anchored off the twin ports complex waiting for berths to clear at terminals piled high with cargo from previous shipments, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.
The bottlenecks are comparable to those last seen in 2014-2015 at the height of a months-long longshore contract dispute at 29 U.S. West Coast ports, said Kip Louttit, executive director of the exchange.