i m geoff bennett. of all of things on president biden s plate right now, and there are a ton of them, perhaps the most alarming is what s not on yours. and it may not be under your tree for christmas or on your plate for thanksgiving. in a country where we re accustomed to getting whatever we want, whenever we want, with the push of a button, if you ve tried to shop for anything from a new car or appliance to a book or groceries, you know there s a growing list of the things you can t find. and if you can, you re probably paying more to buy them. there are a number of reasons for the product shortages. but chief among them is the massive backlog at the ports of los angeles and long beach. they account for 40% of all shipping containers entering the u.s. at last count there are 81 ships floating off the coast right now, waiting to dock. many have been there for weeks. another 62 ships are already docked but it takes time, money, and manpower to unload them. this afternoon the
angeles announced today it will begin operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. this follows the port of long beach s commitment to 24/7 that it had announced weeks ago. 24/7 system, what most of the leading countries in the world already operate on now, except us, until now. this is the first key step toward moving our entire freight transportation and logistical supply chain nationwide to a 24/7 system. here s why it matters. traditionally, our ports have only been open during the week, monday through friday, and they re generally closed down at nights and on weekends. by staying open seven days a week, through the night and on the weekends, the port of los angeles will open over 60 extra hours a week will be open. in total, that will almost double the number of hours that the port is open for business from earlier this year. that means an increase in the hours for workers to be moving cargo off ships, onto trucks and rail cars to get to their destination. and more than
the los angeles and long beach. gene spiroca and mario cardono. i apologize, mario. and the president of the international longshoremens union, willie adams. lodges and long beach are home to two of the largest ports in america. together, these ports are among the largest in the world. the best way to make that point is that 40%, 40% of shipping containers that we import into this country come through these two ports. and today, we have some good news. we re going to help speed up the delivery of goods all across america. after weeks of negotiation and working with my team, and with the major union retailers and freight movers, the port of los