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For weeks we have seen the crisis at the Port of LA and Port of Long Beach - a backup of cargo ships, supply chain issues, but another issue has come to the limelight... Once they get emptied, many shipping containers are being dumped in nearby streets causing frustrations for residents being left to deal with these containers.
Sonia Cervantes, a resident who lives in Wilmington - an area close to the Port of Long Beach and the UCTI Trucking Company, is frustrated and upset with the issues she has been left to deal with in the past few weeks. UCTI Trucking Company is along the same street that Sonia lives on. She spoke to CBSLA about the impending issues with trucking companies dumping empty containers on her street. She told the news outlet:
“It’s a bunch of neighbors that are very upset because it’s a non-stop situation,”
She continued,
“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.”
UTCI Trucking Company owner, Frank Arrerian, was interviewed about the issue. He said:
“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,”
President Joe Biden announced last week that the Port of LA would be working under 24/7 operations, but many are pessimistic that this will not do much to help the issue.
CBSLA interviewed US Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, about the supply chain issues. He said:
“There are so many pieces to the supply chain and most of them are in private hands. 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,”
Buttigieg continued by stating:
“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,”
Sonia Cervantes also mentioned in her interview with CBSLA that trucking companies are causing a lot of trouble in her and surrounding neighborhoods:
“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.”
In response to these issues, UCTI Trucking Owner, Frank Arrerian is asking residents to be more understanding about the situation:
“We’ve been messed with tickets and being harassed,” ... “We ask the community to help us, because we’re only in the middle.”
Arrerian will be meeting with local officials about the possibility of relocating to a bigger lot.