White House Port Envoy and Oakland Officials Meet, Discuss Supply Chain Solutions

Left to right: Port of Oakland Maritime Manager of Business Development and International Marketing Andrew Hwang; Port of Oakland Maritime Director Bryan Brandes; White House Port Envoy General Stephen R. Lyons; Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan; Mid-Pacific Gateway Region U.S. Maritime Administration Director Gus Hein; and Senior Supply Chain Advisor Elaine Travino with the US Department of Transportation’s Office of the Secretary. Photo courtesy of Oakland Seaport.

The White House’s Port and Supply Chain Envoy, retired U.S. Army General Stephen R. Lyons, toured the Port of Oakland on Aug. 29 and met with port officials and stakeholders.

Lyons has been visiting U.S. ports to address on-going supply chain issues in America. He toured the Oakland Seaport to take a first-hand look at the maritime operations and learn more about Oakland’s port terminal activities.

Lyons met with Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan and Maritime Director Bryan Brandes to discuss the challenges Oakland’s maritime activities are facing and continue the federal dialogue to support solutions to goods movement at Oakland.

“I am committed to looking for ways to stabilize the entire supply chain across the nation and restore consumer confidence in the system, and the Port of Oakland plays an important role in our nation’s freight network,” Lyons said.

“We fully appreciate Gen. Lyons coming to Oakland to see our operations and explore solutions to the current supply chain congestion,” Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan said in a statement. “Oakland has been a decades-long port of choice for agricultural exports; we need to restore a full complement of services here to help all of our customers move their goods.”

In the afternoon, Lyons met with agricultural exporters, importers, and maritime terminal operators who rely on the Port of Oakland for their business. They expressed how their operations are impacted by disruptions at various supply chain points such as overflowing warehouses; a lack of labor at distribution centers; equipment shortages; the need for more vessel services to increase export capacity; and a need to move imports off marine terminals faster and reduce cargo dwell time.

“We continue to look for creative ways to reduce port congestion and supply chain disruptions at Oakland, including building  infrastructure and increased transparency of data to increase the fluidity of commerce through our port,” Port of Oakland Maritime Director Bryan Brandes said.

By Karen Robes Meeks