The former CEO of Home Depot Bob Nardelli has said during a live interview this week that America must “be aggressive” to deal with the labor shortage and the huge shipping delays hurting the nation as it gets close to the holiday season.
Nardelli went on Fox News’ show “Fox & Friends” with host Brian Kilmeade to talk about the shipping problem that the United States is deal with. He suggested getting the military involved to meet the demand.
“It seems that if we declared a nationwide emergency and we put these people on the ground and stop this problem,” Nardelli said.
‘We need to be aggressive’: Former Home Depot CEO @bobnardelli explains the urgency to find solutions for the ongoing labor shortage causing massive shipping delays. pic.twitter.com/rsv2GHDedP
— Brian Kilmeade (@kilmeade) October 13, 2021
“I grew up with Jack Welch as my mentor who told me to see the world how it is, not how you want it to be. That has worked well for me,” he said.
“We must be aggressive. We have the ability. We have the willpower. Someone just needs to make the decision to solve these issues,” Nardelli said.
Houston has two terminals that make up almost 70 percent of the volume within the Gulf of Mexico, Roger Guenther, the leader of the Houston port, said to KPRC-TV.
He said these containers are coming here but there is a shortage of people to move them from ports to retailers.
“A lot of people who left the workforce did not come back to the workforce, like those who work inside the distribution facilities where this cargo is eventually going,” Guenther said.
“They are coming off the ship at a faster rate than they are leaving for the centers,” he said.
Reuters last week said the program was “Containergeddon,” leading Walmart and other retailers to pay for their own ships.
“Chartering our own vessels is only one example of the investments we have made to transport products as fast as possible,” said Joe Metzger, the Walmart vice president of supply-chain operations, said in the report.
The retailer has also expanded night-time hours for workers to help with shipping issues, according to Business Insider.
Walmart will extend night-time working hours to help ease the supply chain and shipping crisis, the White House says https://t.co/cpwxzC3ph2
— Insider Retail (@insiderretail) October 13, 2021
The NY Times noted that Houston is not alone. The port in the city of Savannah, Georgia, has had similar issues.
“It has come to a Great Supply Chain Disruption: They are running out of places to place things at one of the largest ports in the country,” the Times said.
Author: Scott Dowdy
