Dwell penalty postponed

With continued progress moving containers off marine terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the container dwell fee for ocean carriers will not be considered before 29 November. On 15 November, the ports said they would delay consideration of the fee until 22 November.

Since the fee was announced on 25 October, the two ports have seen a decline of 33% combined in aging cargo on the docks. They will reassess fee implementation after another week of monitoring data.

Temporary policy

Under the temporary policy approved on 29 October by the Harbour Commissions of both ports, ocean carriers can be charged for each import container that falls into one of two categories: In the case of containers scheduled to move by truck, ocean carriers could be charged for every container dwelling nine days or more. For containers moving by rail, ocean carriers could be charged if a container has dwelled for six days or more.

The ports plan to charge ocean carriers in these two categories US$100 per container, increasing in US$100 increments per container per day until the container leaves the terminal.

Before the pandemic-induced import surge began in mid-2020, on average, containers for local delivery remained on container terminals under four days, while containers destined for trains dwelled less than two days.

Any fees collected from dwelling cargo will be reinvested for programmes designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity and address congestion impacts.

The policy was developed in coordination with the Biden-Harris Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, U.S. Department of Transportation and multiple supply chain stakeholders.