President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday named John Porcari as its Port Envoy. By Monday, Porcari’s portfolio includes Louisiana and Mississippi ports closed by damages from Hurricane Ida.
Monday morning, ports in Louisiana and Mississippi remained closed after the hurricane came ashore near Port Fourchon in Louisiana. New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Plaquemines, South Louisiana, St Bernard and the Venice Port Complex in Louisiana remain closed to traffic Monday morning. The Mississippi ports of Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagoula and Port Bienville, also remain closed.
Porcari’s role will be a connection between ports and the Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force created in June. The task force focused on ports and trucking is led by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“The strength of the U.S. economic recovery has tested the near-term capacity of our supply chains, and the administration is operating on all fronts to ease bottlenecks and facilitate the flow of goods across the country,” National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said. “Our country’s ports are the gateways for getting goods to market, which makes the appointment of John Porcari as Ports Envoy an especially important step forward in alleviating these disruptions that are impacting consumers, workers, and businesses alike.”
The White House said the task force found that challenges at ports, some of which have existed for years, require dedicated focus by experienced, senior leadership.
Porcari was deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the Department of Transportation from 2009-14. During the time, he was directly involved in overseeing port, intermodal, maritime policy and maritime-related competitive grant programs. Before the role, he twice served as secretary of transportation for the Maryland and Chairman of the Maryland Port Commission.
Disruptions in global shipping and rapid shifts in demand have led the cost of shipping containers between China and the West Coast to grow more than 90% compared with 2019, the White House stated. Port workers and terminals are handling 40% more containerized cargo volumes in the first half of this year than the first six months of 2020.
