The threat of $100 daily container dwell fees has become something of an industry punchline. California port authorities recently delayed implementing the fines for the 13th time. But the normal seasonal decline in imports has bottlenecks waning — to some degree — at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.
“Merely announcing the fee reduced the number of those idling containers by more than 60 percent,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka reportedly said. “The results have been phenomenal, and I’m happy to say we have not implemented the fee.”
Recent reports indicate the number of cargo ships idling off the coast has declined from a high-water mark of approximately 109 to 78, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. Although delays are steadily in decline, port officials and transportation experts are not optimistic about resolving bottlenecks in the near future. Seroka recently set the tone with his remark that port officials are “not taking a victory lap.”
But with the holiday import crunch in the rearview, other indicators point to the waning logjams getting under control as early as summer. Dockworkers and support employees were calling out sick — largely due to Omicron — at a rate of 150 per day. Those staffing shortages have dipped and only 25-35 are missing work daily, according to the Pacific Maritime Association.
The Celebration of the Lunar New Year in Asia also has reduced containers arriving in U.S. ports in recent weeks. With Asian families taking time off from work during the holiday season, freight carriers canceled 14 percent of vessel sailings in February. That number represents 6 percent more cancellations than the same month in 2021.
Logistics and cargo experts indicate that container port logjams can be reined in by summer’s end if conditions hold. That projection puts officials under pressure to resolve problems that plagued the supply chain in 2021. In his recent State of the Port address, executive director Mario Cordero laid out a Long Beach readiness plan that could at least reduce congestion when 2022 imports begin to ramp up in late summer and autumn.
“These have been busy, challenging, and, for many of us, heartbreaking times. Welcome to 2022, the year of transformation,” Cordero reportedly said. “Our incredible story became the center of attention across the nation and in many headlines, with 20,000 mentions of the Port of Long Beach in the news media this last year alone.”
Cordero laid out a series of initiatives to better manage the flood of imports expected later in the year. These include the following.
- Short-term storage for overflowing containers.
- Under an agreement with Marine Exchange of Southern California late, incoming ships now “take a number” and slow-steam from Asia to the U.S. West Coast.
- A $50 million grant could be used for new rail facilities at the Port of Long Beach.
- Ships will idle 150 miles off the coast when arriving.
- Offer a one-stop shop for truckers to register and take care of licensing and clean-truck program issues.
- Although a concerted effort is being made to reduce congestion and brace for the fall, not everyone remains optimistic.
“For now, we believe it to be too early to say for sure” about bottlenecks in U.S. supply chains, Niels Madsen, vice president of operations at Sea-Intelligence, reportedly said.
Sources: wsj.com, mxsocal.org, dailybreeze.com
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