The Supply Chain Problem is Bigger than COVID

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A lot of what went wrong with supply chains in recent years was the result of the once-in-a-lifetime disruptions of COVID. Those delays, however, exposed a lot of pre-existing problems that won’t go away with the pandemic.

One issue is our lack of infrastructure. According to World Bank analysis, America has some of the world’s least efficient ports. In fact, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the largest in the country — came in dead last in global rankings.

Why are our ports in such sorry shape? One big reason is technology.

Many of the world’s most advanced ports rely on automation. There’s good reason for that. An analysis of the port in Rotterdam, for instance, estimated that its use of automation allowed it to move 80% more cargo than the non-automated American port in Oakland in the same amount of time.

Another problem: To make our ports deep enough to handle the largest ships, we have to dredge them. But a series of laws passed over 100 years ago limit the number of ships eligible to do that work. As a result, while China built over 200 dredging vessels during the last decade, the U.S. had four.

These kinds of inefficiencies may just seem like inconveniences, but over the long term they can impede a country’s economic growth. The good news: America can still turn things around with some relatively modest reforms.

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