Fewer cargo ships idling off the coast of California’s container ports may not be the result of policy initiatives or savvy logistics. That’s largely because the number of containers handled at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles plummeted in November.
According to recently released data, the country’s two largest container ports managed the equivalent of 765,963 TEUs inbound containers during November. Not since June 2020 have Long Beach and Los Angeles experienced such low numbers. Not only was that figure down by 9.6 percent compared to November 2020, but it also represents a 10.1-percent drop from October 2021.
The declining import volume is not necessarily the result of improving exports, even though the figures calculated for October did look promising. The U.S. trade deficit shrank to -$83,196.4 billion, the lowest disparity since January’s -$85,552.1 billion according to the U.S. Census. And exports rose to their best posting of $157,930.4 billion, outpacing the year’s previous high of $149,177.0 set in August. The bad news is that the country is on pace to break the record trade deficit of -$911,056.1 billion set in 2020.
Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka has reportedly gone on the record attributing the slowdown to smaller container vessels. These ships have been handled more expediently by retailers hoping to get products to outlets in time for the gift-giving holidays. An increase in small cargo ship loads has been trending in recent months as private corporations enlisted these vessels to circumvent bottlenecks.
“Of the 86 container vessels that arrived last month, half were less than 5,300 TEUs, and for comparison,” Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka said, “in October, about one-third of the ships were that size.”
Strategies such as tasking dock workers to operate ports 24/7 or extended hours have fallen short of effective. The threats to level “Container Excess Dwell Fee” fines created something of a media buzz. But the reality of the much-publicized $100 per day fines is that it was repeatedly kicked down the road. After being approved in mid-October, implementation was delayed until Nov. 15, then until Nov. 22, Nov. 29, and Dec. 6, and so on. Through the efforts of truck drivers and organizations working diligently to deliver goods and materials to market, aging cargo on the West Coast docks dropped by a reported 47 percent.
“There’s been significant improvement in clearing import containers from our docks in recent weeks,” Seroka reportedly said. “I’m grateful to the many nodes of the supply chain, from shipping lines, marine terminals, trucks, and cargo owners, for their increased collaborative efforts.”
On the East Coast, container ports experienced an uptick in volume during November. The Port of Savannah handled 495,749 TEUs, an increase from 464,804 TEUs during the same span in 2020. The Port of Charleston saw a 21 percent surge from 207,066 TEUs during November 2020 to 250,711 containers this November. The historic logjams of more than 100 cargo ships idling off the California coast may have prompted something of a reshuffling of the supply chain.
Sources: wsj.com. ttnews.com
they all going to savannah charleston sc and scabby wilmington nc
I understand that the ports in Texas and Florida are welcoming as many containers as they can get. CA is so f%$@ed up, this is what happens. Non F’d up ports will take the business and leave CA in the dust.
That’s not going to happen anytime soon.
And you know this how?