Uber Freight boss says 'we're living in shipping Armageddon,' and it's going to take the entire industry to fix it
insider@insider.com (Mary Hanbury) 

© Provided by Business Insider Containers stacked up at the Port of Los Angeles. 

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Uber Freight chief Lior Ron told CNBC that we've reached "shipping Armageddon."
Ron said it would require the entire industry to fix the crisis - there's no one single cure, he said.
Better wages may help to attract truckers turned off by the long-haul driving lifestyle, he said.

Uber's logistics boss says the "entire industry" must pull together if it wants to fix the shipping crisis.

In an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, Uber Freight chief Lior Ron said that we've reached "shipping Armageddon." The company was using its own technology to help tackle the problem, but only a sector-wide solution would work, he said.

"It really requires the entire industry because we are facing just unprecedented times," he said. "We're ordering more and more packages that we love to consume to our doorstep, but the supply chain is completely imbalanced ... the entire network is different."

Uber Freight, Uber's logistics arm, launched in 2017. In the same way as its core ride-hailing product works, Uber Freight acts as a middleman, providing an app to connect independent truck drivers with shippers that have cargo. Ron said that there were more than 1 million truck drivers using the app.

The global supply chain network is on its knees. After a fall in shipping demand during the early days of the pandemic in 2020, a surge at the end of that year led to delays, port traffic jams, and blockages across the supply chain. Now, containers are getting jammed up in ports because of both rising demand and a continuing shortage of dockworkers and truckers to unload them and take them to their destination.

Earlier this week, the White House stepped in, announcing plans to shift the clogged-up Port of Los Angeles to a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week schedule to help ease traffic. Retailers Walmart, Target, and Home Depot also announced extra working hours to shift their own stock from containers and help de-jam cluttered ports.

When asked whether better wages was the solution to the trucking problem, Ron said that it was an important element, but wouldn't resolve the problem on its own. Long-haul trucking has become less appealing to drivers, especially in the wake of the pandemic, he said.

"It's harder for them to be on the road and there is a better alternative in driving closer to home and doing last-mile delivery. We ask them to do more and more and maybe they don't want to even have to go on the road because they have to be stuck in facilities or have health concerns," he said.