White House Port Envoy and Port of Oakland meet to discuss supply chain solutions

General Lyons met with Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan and Maritime Director Bryan Brandes to discuss the challenges Oakland’s maritime activities are facing and continue the federal dialogue to support solutions to goods movement at Oakland.  

“I am committed to looking for ways to stabilize the entire supply chain across the nation and restore consumer confidence in the system, and the Port of Oakland plays an important role in our nation’s freight network,” said General Lyons.

“We fully appreciate General Lyons coming to Oakland to see our operations and explore solutions to the current supply chain congestion,” said Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan. “Oakland has been a decades-long port of choice for agricultural exports; we need to restore a full complement of services here to help all of our customers move their goods.” 

In the afternoon, General Lyons met with agricultural exporters, importers, and maritime terminal operators who rely on the Port of Oakland for their business. They expressed how their operations are impacted by disruptions at various supply chain points such as:

• Overflowing warehouses,  
• Lack of labor at distribution centers,  
• Equipment shortages,  
• Need for more vessel services to increase export capacity, and  
• Need to move imports off marine terminals faster and reduce cargo dwell time. 

This meeting is a continuation of the close working relationship between the federal government and the Port of Oakland. 

“We continue to look for creative ways to reduce port congestion and supply chain disruptions at Oakland, including building  infrastructure and increased transparency of data to increase the fluidity of commerce through our port,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director Bryan Brandes. 

The Port of Oakland is a natural geographic gateway for California agricultural exports. Importers at the Oakland Seaport serve more than 14 million people in this megaregion. 

Photo: Left to right: Port of Oakland Maritime Manager of Business Development and International Marketing Andrew Hwang; Port of Oakland Maritime Director Bryan Brandes; White House Port Envoy General Stephen R. Lyons; Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan; Mid-Pacific Gateway Region U.S. Maritime Administration Director Gus Hein; and Senior Supply Chain Advisor Elaine Travino with the US Department of Transportation’s Office of the Secretary.