JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida can help resolve the country's ongoing U.S. supply chain problems.
That was the message that Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered Tuesday morning during a news conference at Jacksonville's port.
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The businesses that make up American supply chains have struggled to keep up as the country recovers from the pandemic and the economic turmoil brought on by it.
Amid a surge in e-commerce, the pandemic has disrupted workers in key transportation and logistics nodes, like those employed at ports.
Pictures from off the coast of California this month have shown multiple container ships docked offshore while waiting to unload their cargo.
This has caused not only shipments of goods to be delayed, but the cost of many items to suddenly increase.
Joined by port directors from across the state, DeSantis proclaimed that Florida can help with the logjam.
"We've long been committed to reliable, modern and accessible port facilities since I became governor in 2019," DeSantis said. "We've allocated almost a billion dollars to over 70 Florida seaport projects."
The governor said Florida's ports have the capacity to help unload and transport goods, offering incentive packages to companies that want to work with the Sunshine State.
"Our seaports are used to operating around the clock. They're used to moving cargo for American families, farmers and businesses, and we think that this is a great solution given our capacity for some of the problems you see in other parts of the country," the governor said.
DeSantis said some ships have already started to use different routes to visit Florida ports amid the crisis.
"Port Everglades recently accommodated the MSC Stella container ship with nearly 7,000 containers this past weekend, and the MSC Susanna container ship with 9,200 containers is arriving this weekend from India via the Suez Canal," DeSantis said.
President Joe Biden announced last week that his administration is stepping up efforts to address the global transportation supply chain bottlenecks, including new public and private-sector commitments.