WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2022) The price to ship a container from Asia to the United States increased tenfold during the coronavirus pandemic in part due to the competition and performance issues in ocean shipping, White House chief economic adviser Brian Deese said.
"The competition and performance issues in ocean shipping have had profound spillover to our economy coming out of a pandemic with fundamental supply and supply chain constraints," Deese said during a conversation organized by the Aspen Institute on Thursday. "We have a highly concentrated industry dominated by three alliances, and during the pandemic, the price of shipping and container from Asia to the United States rose more than tenfold."
Deese pointed out that the United States experienced significant problems with overseas shipments during the pandemic.
Shipping containers were piling up at ports due to the Biden administration's pandemic measures causing a decrease in production, lack of labor incentives and revolt among some workers against vaccine and other mandates, he said.
The lack of workers to unload the hundreds of thousands of containers also fueled the increase in prices, which further contributed to restraining the expected economic growth, according to reports.
In June, US President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that overhauls the US shipping industry and provides safeguards to prevent companies from manipulating the market.
