Lyons Tapped for Supply Chain Task Force

Gen. Stephen R. Lyons (retired)

The White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) have appointed retired Gen. Stephen R. Lyons as Port and Supply Chain Envoy to the Biden administration’s Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force.

Lyons, who served as the 13th Commander of the U.S. Transportation Command until retiring last fall, succeeds John D. Porcari. Porcari has held the Port and Supply Chain Envoy role since August 2021.

With 36 years of military service, Lyons will work with the USDOT, the White House National Economic Council (NEC), ports, railroads, trucking and other private companies to continue addressing supply chain bottlenecks and speeding the movement of goods, the USDOT reported on May 27.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leads the Task Force focus on ports and trucking issues, among others. The Task Force’s leadership also includes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on food and agriculture, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on homebuilding and semiconductors.

Since the Task Force formed in June 2021, it has worked with ports to propose a container dwell fee to reduce congestion; launched a trucking action plan to recruit and retain more drivers; funded pop-up container yards; moved supply chain operators toward 24/7 operations; and launched a data sharing effort, Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW), with Target, FedEx, UPS, True Value, ocean shippers, ports and additional stakeholders to reduce shipping costs, according to USDOT.

“Long-dwelling containers at the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach have dropped by about 50% since the proposed fee,” the Department noted. “The total number of container ships waiting to enter U.S. ports has dropped by nearly 50% since peaking in early February—even as containerized imports increased for most ports in March.”

“Envoy John Porcari has done a tremendous job addressing challenges at every stage of the supply chain, and goods have moved more quickly and affordably because of his actions,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “Global supply chains will remain fragile as long as the pandemic continues to disrupt ports and factories around the world, and a lot of work remains to reduce shipping delays and costs for American families. We are grateful that Gen. Lyons, formerly Commander of the U.S. Transportation Command, will now take on the role of Ports and Supply Chain Envoy, working across every level of government, labor and industry to strengthen America’s supply chains.”

“The Biden-Harris administration has made tremendous progress on addressing the supply chain disruptions we’ve seen as we recover from the pandemic,” Lyons said. “I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and continuing to engage industry, labor and port stakeholders to improve the fluidity of our supply chains, cut down on shipping costs, and ultimately save money for the American people.”