Reuters/Lucas Jackson
- Gov. Greg Abbott said cargo ships in California can re-route to Texas ports in less than two weeks.
- Abbott said Texas can get goods out quicker and cheaper than California where ports are jammed.
- It comes after Tesla recently moved its headquarters from California to Austin, Texas.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has urged cargo ships headed to or stuck outside California ports to re-route to “24/7 functioning” ports in his state.
Abbott posted a 30-second promotional video on Twitter on Monday saying freight carriers can reach Texas from California in less than two weeks.
“Choose a state that doesn’t see inflation and America’s supply-chain backlog as a good thing,” Abbott said in the video. “Escape California, everyone is doing it.”
“Texas ports are open & ready to help fix America’s supply chain backlog,” Abbott wrote in his tweet. “We can get goods out faster & at a lower cost than California due to our centralized location.”
COVID-19 lockdowns and surging demand have caused chaos in shipping ports, especially in the neighboring Long Beach and Los Angeles.
Nearly half a million shipping containers are stuck off the coast of Southern California, according to data from the Marine Exchange of Southern California’s master queuing list, Insider’s Grace Kay reported in early October.
Abbott’s promotional video comes after electric car maker Tesla moved its headquarters in October from the San Francisco Bay Area to Austin, Texas.
Abbott told CNBC in September that Tesla CEO Elon Musk “had to get out of California” partly because of the state’s “social policies,” adding that the billionaire “likes the social policies in the state of Texas.”
Musk said the move was down to house prices in the Bay Area, long commutes for employees, and limits to scaling up business.
He threatened to move all of Tesla’s operations to Texas or Nevada in 2020 after coronavirus lockdowns forced the company to close its main factory.
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