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As volumes continue to surge at the nation’s ports on the coasts of the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, two of the nation’s biggest facilities — Los Angeles and Long Beach — are taking the first steps to expand their hours of operations to 24/7 to keep up with the backlog of freight.

An owner of commodity hauling freighters said rates for the ships are close to the point of spiking sharply higher and mirroring an unprecedented surge in costs for transporting manufactured goods.

Global supply chains already tangled by the pandemic, labor shortages and sustained consumer demand in the U.S. are getting walloped by another disruptive force: Mother Nature.

More than six months into the economic recovery, the nation’s ports on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts continue to see record or near-record cargo loads, and port officials and economists forecast the substantial numbers likely will continue well into 2022.

Global vaccinations of seafarers are going too slowly to prevent outbreaks on ships from causing more trade disruptions, endangering maritime workers and potentially slowing economies trying to pull out of pandemic slowdowns.

President Joe Biden’s signing of an executive order to increase competition and reduce congestion in the supply chain is gaining the support of leaders at the Federal Maritime Commission and trade associations.

John Kerry wants to accelerate the decarbonization of the global shipping industry, which spews more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year than France and the U.K. combined.

The nation’s ports reported record container volumes in April as the U.S. economy continues its strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

On both coasts, the nation’s ports continued their record pace for container volumes in March as goods keep coming into the U.S., nearly 14 months into the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lingering congestion at the nation’s major ports is likely to continue throughout the summer and possibly later into the year, said Daniel Maffei, the new chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission.