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CHICAGO — White House Supply Chain Envoy Stephen Lyons said Sept. 20 he believes the recently negotiated tentative agreement between the five Class I railroads and unions — representing 150,000 railroad locomotive engineers, conductors and railroad workers — will be ratified.

With the increasing number of cargo ships on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts waiting to be unloaded nearing 150, Federal Maritime Commission member Carl Bentzel believes the upcoming peak season for retailers could be extremely challenging.

Port of Port Arthur, Texas, will receive $13.6 million in a federal USDOT grant that port officials say will significantly upgrade the East Texas facility during the next year.

The number of containerships headed for the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — a traffic jam that once symbolized American consumer vigor during the pandemic — declined to the lowest level since the bottleneck started to build two years ago.

Record-setting container volumes continued flowing through some of the nation’s major ports in July, while industry challenges compelled declines at other facilities.

Developers and port officials in Dallas County, Texas, are talking with leaders building the new Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District/Louisiana Gateway Project to expand the reach of the budding Gulf of Mexico facility.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said he sees no signs of a strike or a lockout looming in the contract negotiations between dockworkers and employers at some of the nation’s most important ports, even as talks continue without a contract.

The 22,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association jointly announced July 26 they have reached a tentative agreement on health care benefits.

The Port of Los Angeles reported its highest container volume ever for the month of June in its 115-year history.

The new federal port envoy said he is “very optimistic” about the progress being made to unkink the nation’s seaports and supply chain.