>> from the port of long beach in california, i'm caroline hyde. taylor: a bicoastal addition of "what'd you miss?" i'm taylor riggs here in new york. caroline: we bring your best, right here at the second busiest

container seaport in the united states. over the next 30 minutes you will hear from key voices trying to fix the bottleneck. ryan peterson will be our guest. ringing trucks down here to help some of the hard-working workers down here. romain: when you come down to one of these ports, this is the economy, when you walk around and see everything moving across, it's kind of like a ballet. making sure everyone needs to be or they need to be when the music starts. caroline: we broke down the

issues facing the port of long beach earlier. take a listen. >> it's one of the main arteries for transpacific trade and the second busiest container seaport in the united states. the port of long beach along the coast of california is one of the few u.s. ports that can accommodate one of the world's largest needs, with connections to 217 seaports around the globe. goods from furniture to footwear , auto parts to electronics, just about everything you can imagine is channeled through the port. adding up to $170 billion worth of trade every year. it's not just common household goods. the port supports 2.6 million jobs across the country, more than 500 75,000 in southern california alone. it's not enough to combat capacity issues that have emerged during the ongoing pandemic payment today a record backlog of ships weight off the

coast and containers sit in overcrowded warehouses. with the holiday shopping season ahead, the supply chain squeeze shows few signs of letting up. romaine: you see all the images there of the port and folk shopping along fifth avenue. how do you get the stuff from the ports down there to pith avenue -- 2 5th avenue? >> this is a beautiful facility. as we drove up here, we saw the long line of empty trucks waiting to pick up containers. how long are these folks waiting? >> it depends on the terminal. in many instances you're waiting to grab that container off the dock or returning the container to go back to the port. caroline: what is happening to those getting into these cues?

>> part of it is the equipment shortage previewed we are struggling with returning empty containers. the reason that is important is that these into containers are sitting on top of -- they are supposed to line up at a particular marine terminal. if they don't line up your not getting in and if you can't get the empties off, you will not move into that port. romaine: are they basically saying we will wait it out? >> drivers want to drive, that's the main thing. we thrive on productivity. caroline: are you getting paid by the hour? how much of a sacrifice is this for the people who are driving? matt: it's on the productivity side, honestly.

you lose the efficiency for moving containers elsewhere. romaine: one lesson we have learned is how interconnected everything is here. we hear people saying it is this guy's problem or this person's problem or this certain segment of the supply chain that is causing it. how do you make sense of it, as to not just what is causing the problem or how it can be solved with everyone involved? matt: the blame game gets no one anywhere. we are ready to move these containers. to the american consumer, we are not just sitting around waiting for something to happen. we are ready to move the goods, and like i said, we need these containers to be moved. we don't think it is a function of a shortage of drivers. there are about 13,000 800

drivers on this complex daily. we don't think that because there isn't necessarily a glut of drivers available, we think the productivity side is what is driving the inefficiencies which is causing all the backups. caroline: who is meant to make the appointments line up? who is behind that part of it? matt: the trucking companies. the trucking companies themselves are required to set up these appointments. we endeavor to try to make an appointment to bring back the empty and pull the import off. so we have two different appointments across those marine terminals that are needed. caroline: it needs to be consolidated somehow. romaine: is that something that gets accomplished by private

industry alone, or do you need government involvement? matt: it's a great question. the port administrator is our landlord. these are private businesses operated within their own realm. hopefully these discussions will lead to more productivity. if we can break down some of the challenges we face on a daily basis, we will see this cargo move. there is a weekly call i am on that is hosted by the port authority trying to bring all these actors to the table. one that is conspicuously missing is the ocean carriers. we really need the ocean carriers to get involved to get rid of these into containers off dock, bring the empties back and free up the dock. caroline: talk about the 24/7

nature as well. there was a big celebration made of the fact that the ports would be open 24/7. is their willingness on your part in the association's part to work 24/7? matt: we are a can-do industry. right now the ports are not offering 24/7. the challenges are that there are still restrictions your unable to meet as a trucking company and you cannot secure the right type of appointment you need to ring the product out and take the empty containers back. romaine: you could say it is an outgrowth of the pandemic and the distortions from that. do you make changes now with the knowledge of being referred back to what the pre-pandemic was?

matt: hopefully when we look at these issues and start drilling down and trying to come up with more tangible solutions, that will stretch out for the rest of the millennia, for that matter. so anytime we need to import goods, 40% are coming through the port of long beach. caroline: it seems like you need to be in bigger groups coordinating in terms of sharing ideas. some are saying they need more immigration ability to bring in more truck drivers. you're saying that isn't really the issue. how do we get all of your expertise together to be able to share the ideas? matt: we are trying, honestly. i think the white house has done a good job of trying to bring every party to the table. the coast guard, major

retailers, marine terminals, longshore union. we are all in this together, honestly. longshore ones to work, the truck drivers want to work. it's just a function of being able to. romaine: hopefully we will get this sorted out. i think everyone along the supply chain and customers like us are really feeling it here. back to you in new york, taylor. taylor: coming up, more from the port of long beach. will hear from ryan peterson, but first, more on the supply chain issue. romaine: we climbed all the way to the roof to get a bird's-eye view of what's going on behind us. caroline: a beautiful view, but not quite so sensational if you

are on those container ships. romaine: at least 65 of those ships are floating around back there, not normal. they are waiting as many as 11 days just to get instructions as to when to come into port. caroline: lost money, loss goods and items. the supply chain pain continues to be evident right here at the port ong beach. ♪

caroline: we are live from the beautiful port of long beach. i'm caroline hyde. romaine: we are trying to get some on the ground perspective

as to what is going on with the supply chain issue. taylor: i loving you guys are there on the ground, there is not a terminal that cannot also show that. take a look at this, click on seaport and vessel and it is a photo of congestion, a live look of all these ships. it was 20, then 40, now it is 60 or 65 ships. this is a top-down view of all the ships just hanging out. romaine: of course that terminal kind of highlights the issue here. it shows you what we are seeing on the ground in real time. joining us is mine peterson, you could not see what taylor was to showing us but she was showing a map of all the ships just floating around out there waiting for instructions, something like 65 right here in long beach alone.

how do you get from 65 down to zero? ryan: at the end of the day it's about rate of flow and how do you get the containers out of port so you have space to unload the ships. there are two cranes that are not working at all and they should be unloading ships. the problem is if the yard is completely full of containers, there is no place to unload the ships. the whole problem of being able to come, returning empty container and then pick up . these are complex systems. everyone wants a villain but it is hard to point to one action where it is breaking down. caroline: if you've got a twitter account, go on and look up ryan.

you brought a truck and interviewed groups on what is going on here. are these things easily solved from a logistical point of view? what is needed for easing up each and every bottleneck? ryan: certainly you cannot say it is easy to solve. i do think with the right amount of leadership, you can overwhelm the bottlenecks. the reason we brought the taco truck down to the port was a kind of wanted to hear from the union firsthand. i saw an article, someone found a truck driver somewhere blaming the union saying they were lazy. you got to piece it together from everyone's perspective of what is going on.

they said truckers are not coming to pick up their containers but the truckers will say i can't make the appointment, i'm either in a traffic jam or they won't let me drop off the empty containers. if i can't drop off the empty, how my going to pick up a new one? so you see these chain reactions and finger-pointing. i don't think there is one villain. it's a breakdown and a bottleneck and you have to overwhelm the bottleneck. romaine: is there a centralized approach to all of this? ryan: generally almond advocate for free market approaches. but you're never going to have a true free-market imports because you don't want anybody with the beachfront property to say i don't want to port coming to unload containers. you will need some level of top-down.

romaine: it is little fiefdoms here with individual countries controlling their little piece of the pie. ryan: the port of long beach is owned by the city of long beach. it may have different priorities than the u.s. and economic strategic priorities as a nation. what are the odds they will invest the right amount of capital. the port of oakland is owned by the city of oakland. are they going to put in investments to keep the capacity low? they don't have the budget for that. there's a role for the federal government to come in and step in from an infrastructure perspective. caroline: is it just from getting the right people together in the right virtual room to understand where the pressure points are to alleviate them? we can talk about structure until we are blue in the face but that won't solve the problem in 2022.

ryan: you want to have checks and balances and things, but when you've got a crisis, you don't have until next year. caroline: is the crisis being solved by these coordinated conversations? ryan: president biden statement last week said they're going to start pressuring the ports to run 24/7. it is a step in the right direction, but we are in the middle of the day on a weekday and the cranes are not running because there is no place to put the containers. so i'm not convinced opening up at night is going to solve that much. there's a bunch of ways that technology can solve it. right now, the way trucks get appointments is they have to sign up on a website for an appointment and they will get an email saying you can now deliver this container. a human is writing the email

saying bring us this container that you've been waiting to deliver. you could definitely build a better process for this. for example, they now have to bring a specific container to the port when they are told they can, and at the same time they say i'm here to get this container number and they have to have an appointment for that container number. what should happen is that just, and they are handed the first container that is available with instructions on where to take it. the tech is there, but it is a big thing to change the nature of these relationships. caroline: is your phone ringing off the hook? ryan: our phone is ringing off the hook as well as customers waiting for the container ships. we have about two months until christmas time and there's

500,000 containers full of merchandise sitting here off the coast. there is room for more creative solutions. there is room for creativity here. can we just haul all these container somewhere else? there is a literal traffic jam of trucks getting in here. what if we pull a barge up here and throw some empties on it? there are no bad ideas. we've got to overwhelm the bottleneck with creative solutions. we definitely have to work on it. caroline: ryan peterson, what a great conversation. taylor: christian klein on how his company is responding to some of these supply chain disruptions. >> supply chain disruptions are serious.

semiconductor, from what we are seeing, this will also be the case in the next quarter. second to your other question, it's important we help our customers to overcome these disruptions. this is why we are further investing into new technology into the world's largest business network because technology can definitely help to overcome this pretty severe situation. ♪

>> it is definitely a market in flux. like the recession are bankruptcies or tsunamis, it really is a supply issue, not a demand issue. the volume is up probably 20 sent -- 20% right now. >> here in the port, we don't have a labor shortage, because of the leadership of our mayor, robert garcia and governor newsom. earlier this year we had a proactive plan of action to vaccinate the dockworkers. we do have an issue with truck drivers and warehouse personnel. >> the bigger issue right now is

the labor force in the united states and pacifically getting more truck drivers, more capacity and more warehouse capacity for labor and are distribution centers. romaine: a lot of great voices we heard, our special edition here at the port of long beach. caroline: it is not just one person's fault. ♪

>> from the heart of where innovation, money, and power collide, in silicon valley and belonged -- beyond, this is "bloomberg technology." emily: i'm emily chang in san francisco and this is "bloomberg technology." tech earnings season in full swing. apple's new restriction on data collection