• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Blogs » Think Tank » No Quick Fix for Congestion That Continues to Plague Port Operations

Think Tank
Think Tank RSS FeedRSS

No Quick Fix for Congestion That Continues to Plague Port Operations

LA dockworkers
Dockworkers move cargo on a container terminal. Photo: Port of Los Angeles.
March 28, 2022
Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

Ocean cargo handlers are scrambling for solutions to the congestion that continues to plague major U.S. container ports, especially Los Angeles and Long Beach. But the ultimate answer might lie in something beyond their control: time.

To be sure, operations at Southern California ports have sped up in recent weeks. In January, there were 109 containerships waiting to get into the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex to unload their cargoes. As of late February, that number had fallen to 58, Port of Long Beach executive director Mario Cordero told the TPM22 conference in Long Beach, California.

Ocean carriers have been incentivized to accelerate movements in Southern California by the megaports’ threat to impose a dwell fee of $100 per day on import containers lingering at marine terminals for nine days or more. But the ports have repeatedly deferred activation of the fee, as the backlog of boxes has steadily decreased. The two ports say they have seen a decline of 62% in “aging” cargo on the docks since the fee was first announced on October 25 — all without actually levying it.

Other actions taken by the ports and carriers over the last two years include Long Beach’s expansion of its Short Term Overflow Resource (STOR) yard at Pier S, where the port plans eventually to build a seventh container terminal. Additional locations for the temporary storage of containers from the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland will be opening up in the coming weeks on land leased out by the state of California. In addition, Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka told TPM22, the ports are encouraging greater information-sharing among carriers and shippers, expedited pickup of containers during off-peak hours, expanded hours for local warehousing, and faster return of containers and chassis to the port for transport back to Asia.

As landlords that cede responsibility for day-to-day operations to private marine-terminal operators, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach can only do so much to facilitate more efficient handling of cargo on the docks and beyond. And recent moves such as requiring waiting containerships to anchor farther offshore, where they’re not visible from land, are essentially cosmetic in nature. Nevertheless, West Coast port executives are acutely aware that chronic delays are resulting in lost business to facilities on the East and Gulf coasts, so they’re taking an active role in getting carriers to step up the movement of containers over the docks.

Congestion at Southern California ports is nothing new; local cargo interests have been trying to cope with it for years. Their biggest initiative to date has been creation of the PierPass program in 2005, with the goal of extending operating hours at container terminals to include night and Saturday shifts. The additional cost of the program was to be offset by imposition of a traffic mitigation fee on cargo moving during regular hours.

Critics say PierPass hasn’t had the desired impact on port congestion. It took 10 years for the program to implement a full second shift, Cordero noted. “PierPass was originally constituted to reduce congestion at certain times,” Federal Maritime Commission chairman Daniel Maffei told TPM22. “The version they have now makes no attempt do that.”

Three years ago, PierPass began charging the same fee for night operations as during the daytime, noted John Porcari, port envoy to the Biden Administration’s Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force. “That took away the incentive [to operate in off-peak hours],” he said. “It’s very different from the original intent. 

Porcari called for renewed efforts to encourage the off-peak use of terminal gates. “PierPass needs to evolve or be replaced by something that actually fulfills those objectives in a way it doesn’t today,” he said.

Ideally, Porcari said, shippers would like to see 24-hour operations at West Coast ports, even though the terminals claim that the late hours currently in effect aren’t being fully utilized.

Efforts to further expand working hours, however, are running into another problem: lack of adequate labor. COVID-19 has reduced the workforce on the docks, as well as at inland facilities. Jeremy Nixon, chief executive officer of the Ocean Network Express (ONE) carrier alliance, said ships haven’t been able to obtain enough work gangs for efficient unloading. The answer, he believes, lies in terminal and warehouse automation, to a degree common at major European and Asia ports but not seen at many U.S. facilities today.

Ultimately, the problem of congestion and freight bottlenecks will require a long-term effort that takes into account all of the parties involving in moving and processing both international and domestic freight, including marine terminals, dockworkers, warehouses, railroads, intermodal terminals and truck drivers. “Goods movement 24/7 is the future,” said Porcari, “but it won’t work if containers have nowhere to go. There’s no light switch that you can turn on here.”

Logistics Global Gateways Ocean Transportation Rail & Intermodal Supply Chains in Crisis

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • DOCUMENTS BEARING THE INSIGNIA OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LIE ON A TABLE

    New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
  • A WORKER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPERIMPOSED WITH GRAPHICS SHOWING SUPPLY NETWORK

    Enabling Intelligent Visibility With Supply Chain Analytics

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A HAND TURNS A LARGE, LIGHTED DIAL WITH THE WORD RISK ON IT iStock-NicoElNino-1364371014.jpg

    Measuring KPIs and KRIs for Comprehensive Supplier Performance Management

    Technology
  • GSCMS-Promo.png

    Watch: Introducing the Global Supply Chain Marketing Summit

    Education & Professional Development
  • DEEPLY CRACKED EARTH UNDER A BLUE CLOUDY SKY

    Why Maritime Supply Chains Must Adapt to Sustainability Regulations

    Ocean Transportation

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing