After spending weeks on ships stuck off the coast of the United States, shipping containers are reportedly being dumped in nearby neighborhoods.
Since the 24/7 operations of offloading cargo ships in Los Angeles and Long Beach ports have started, new problems arose, such as getting rid of the shipping containers used to transport goods. “Many of the shipping containers that spent weeks onboard ships waiting to be unloaded are now being dumped in nearby neighborhoods once they’re emptied,” CBSLA reported.
UCTI Trucking Company, located in Wilmington, California, only has the capacity of holding 65 containers, the report said. As a result of limited space, the trucking company has been lining the streets of the nearby neighborhood in front of the homes of nearby residents.
“It’s a bunch of neighbors that are very upset because it’s a non-stop situation,” said Sonia Cervantes, who lives on Anaheim Street, where the company is located. “I would have to go in at 6:30 a.m. to go to work. There was a trailer already blocking my driveway, so I couldn’t get out. With no driver in the trailer, so we would honk and honk, and it was just crazy.”
“They’re sitting in the street for like 15, 20 minutes. Sometimes they just unload the trailer in the street with no front part of it, and they just leave it there,” Cervantes added.
Owner of UCTI Trucking, Frank Arrieran, told CBSLA: “Right now with the ports and everything that’s going on over there, we’re stuck with the containers, having to bring them all to the yard, and we only have so much space.”
The local news organization spoke with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who said President Joe Biden’s administration is working to find short and long-term solutions to the continuing cargo ship crisis.”
“There are so many pieces to the supply chain, and most of them are in private hands,” Buttigieg told CBSLA.” But what we found is that the administration can act as an honest broker, and that’s what we’re doing, getting the different players together and securing commitments that are going to make a difference to get these goods flowing.”
“There are $17 billion in port improvements in the President’s infrastructure bill, and they’re urgently needed. This is one of the reasons why we’re eager to see congressional action, and I know my department is ready to put those dollars to work,” Buttigieg added.
However, up until recently, Buttigieg’s whereabouts have been questioned while the crisis has been ongoing. Politico’s West Wing Playbook confirmed that Buttigieg was “lying low.”
“They didn’t previously announce it, but Buttigieg’s office told West Wing Playbook that the secretary has actually been on paid leave since mid-August to spend time with his husband, Chasten, and their two newborn babies,” Playbook reported.
While the secretary finds his way back to work amid the ongoing crisis, Arrerian, said his company is “doing everything they can to ease the congestion on the street” in addition to asking the surrounding residents to understand.
“We’ve been messed with tickets and being harassed,” Arrerian added. “We ask the community to help us because we’re only in the middle.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.
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