NFA Writes to Secretary Pete Buttigieg Asking to Unload Our Ports

Industry Warns of “Very Real Possibility” of a Fourth Without Fireworks

WASHINGTON – The National Fireworks Association (NFA) yesterday sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg calling attention to the problems facing the transportation, logistics and supply chain of our nation’s consumer fireworks industry. 

After signing the American Rescue Plan, President Biden addressed Americans in prime time and gave them hope that they could begin resuming to normalcy with small gatherings of friends and families by the Fourth of July. But the grave reality is that if many Americans expect to gather on the Fourth of July and celebrate our nation’s birthday with fireworks, as they normally would, they may be sorely disappointed. 

“The pandemic has thrown the world’s transportation network into total chaos creating obstacles at every turn,” NFA President Steve Houser and over 1,300 NFA members, fireworks company owners and employees wrote to the Department of Transportation. “We are writing to ask that you immediately examine our nation’s port and transportation infrastructure to see where the bottlenecks are, and immediately implement the changes necessary to streamline the system and return it to pre-COVID-19 conditions. If this is not done within the next few weeks, we fear that this year’s fireworks season will never take place.”

Recently, the Chinese government shut down the entire country for fifteen days for party meetings, causing delays in both manufacturing and distributing completed product to ports for export. Many American cities and towns have begun to cancel their 4th of July celebrations because they are not sure if herd immunity will be established by summer. Shipping time from China to the United States has doubled from thirty to sixty days, and the cost to ship a forty-foot container of consumer fireworks has nearly doubled in price from over $9,300 to $17,700 per container. Finally, it now takes close to twenty-one days to unload a container vessel at the Long Beach, California port. 

“The fireworks industry can’t say it clearer,” said Houser.  “There is a very real possibility, that if Americans are expecting to return to normal this Fourth of July, that normal won’t include their favorite fireworks.  Time is running out to get these products moving.”

You can view the letter to Secretary Buttigieg here:  

 

About NFA: The National Fireworks Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for the safety of consumer fireworks and professional display fireworks. Importers, distributors, manufacturers and sellers of commercial fireworks make up the over 1200 small businesses member companies who operate in the United States. 

 

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