Washington: Major goods carriers Walmart, FedEx and UPS will move to working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to address the global supply chain bottlenecks, the White House announced on Wednesday ahead of President Biden’s meeting with the stakeholders, including CEOs of the three companies.
“The supply chain is essentially in the hands of the private sector, so we need the private sector to step up to help solve these problems. Three of the largest goods carriers in the country, Walmart, FedEx and UPS, will make commitments towards moving to 24/7, working during off peak hours,” an administration official said.
UPS and FedEx combined shipped 40 percent of American packages by volume in 2020.
“By taking these steps, they’re saying to the rest of the supply chain, you need to move too, let’s step it up,” the official said, adding that Target, Samsung and Home Depot are also moving in the 24/7 direction.
Additionally, the Port of Los Angeles will move into 24/7 service. The port of Long Beach has been working 24/7 for the past three weeks, the official said.
“These are major commitments, but they’re most effective when every private company along the supply chain does the same thing, and now we’re looking to trucking and freight to expand hours as well to help with the bottlenecks,” the official added.
White House has warned that Americans could see higher prices and empty shelves this holiday season due to global supply bottlenecks.
