As the Canadian demonstrators blocking access to the vital Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario entered a fourth day with no end in sight, the bilateral trade impact of the protest movement against COVID-19 measures is rapidly escalating.

Mario Cordero, executive director of the Port of Long Beach said in his “State of the Port of Long Beach” address that the Port “had its busiest year ever” in 2021, moving 9.4 million TEUs compared to 8.11 million TEUs in 2020.

Container shipping analyst Lars Jensen, the principal at Copenhagen-based Vespucci Maritime Consulting, warned that tensions between Russia and the Ukraine could spill out into cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, including ports.

Blockage of the Suez Canal in 2021 by the merchant vessel Ever Given was a physical reminder of the vulnerability of global trade and how easily it can be disrupted. Beyond failures of physical infrastructure sit largely invisible threats to the administration of global supply chains.

Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan defended the decision by Port Commissioners and the City of Oakland to proceed with negotiations for the Oakland A’s to locate a baseball park and condominium complex at the Port’s Howard Terminal site.

Paul Matthews, the new executive director of the Port of South Louisiana, says recent enactment of the new Infrastructure Bill signed by the President and supported by the Louisiana Congressional delegation will help Louisiana and Mississippi ports expand and provide an alternative to congestion at West Coast and East Coast ports

On January 19th, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its “spend plans” outlining the specific inland waterways projects that were allocated funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Infrastructure Package) totaling $2.22 billion.

In his “2022 State of the Port of Los Angeles” Executive Director Gene Seroka announced the Port processed about 10.7 million TEUs during 2021 which was 13% higher than its previous record.

John Porcari, the Biden-Harris Administration’s Port Envoy, warned that long-standing shortfalls in U.S. infrastructure spending going back generations have created a reliance on an infrastructure “that our grandparents built.”

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing $2.3 billion in state funding to help ease congestion and supply chain problems that continue to impact the California Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland.