President Biden announced Wednesday that the Port of Los Angeles would operate around the clock to alleviate a logistical bottleneck that has left dozens of container ships idling off the California coast and Americans waiting longer to get products manufactured overseas.
Longshoremen will work through the night and major retailers and shipping companies have pledged to clear cargo off the docks faster, changes that are intended to speed the flow of toys, electronics and other gifts to American doorsteps during the holiday season.
“Today’s announcement has the potential to be a game changer,” Biden said as he acknowledged that people are worrying about whether everything from “toasters to sneakers to bicycles to bedroom furniture” were going to be available.
Container ships at the ports of Los Angeles on Wednesday.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Container ships are unloaded at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach while other vessels wait offshore.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Container ships wait to unload.
(Allen J. Schaben /Los Angeles Times)
A sailboat passes one of the container ships sitting off the coast of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Containers are unloaded from a docked ship.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Container ships wait offshore.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
A truck driver checks his cargo as the Port of Los Angeles is set to begin operating around the clock.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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Cargo trucks wait in long lines to enter the port.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Cargo ships wait to enter the port on Wednesday in San Pedro,
Carolyn Cole is a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. Her coverage of the civil crisis in Liberia won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Cole has been named U.S. newspaper photographer of the year three times. Cole grew up in California and Virginia, before attending the University of Texas, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She went on to earn a master of art’s degree from Ohio University.
Jason Armond is a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times. A native of North Carolina, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a bachelor’s in media and journalism. His work as a photographer and videographer has been recognized by the Hearst Journalism Awards, the White House News Photographers Assn. and the North Carolina College Media Assn. As a freelance visual journalist, his work has been featured in several publications before joining The Times.
Photojournalist Allen J. Schaben began his career at the Los Angeles Times shortly after he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism with minors in art and psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1994.
