LA-LB congestion proves costly

With things getting progressively worse as the holiday season starts and with vessels forced to wait at anchor for a berth, terminal operators stepped in to extend opening hours and use all longshore labour available.

According to PierPass, the entity set up by the ports’ 13 terminal operators to administer the extended gate-hour programme, the majority of terminals are hiring extra labour to keep their gates open to truckers during lunch hours and shift changes.

John Cushing, president of PierPass Inc, said: “The terminals are highly motivated to relieve the congestion that is choking their ability to operate and driving up their operational costs. Since September 1, the 13 terminals have been spending an additional and unbudgeted US$3m per week on extra labour to open additional gates and manage yard congestion.”

To make matters even worse, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) last week refused to dispatch hundreds of qualified, skilled workers for critically important positions transporting containers in terminal yards at the nation’s largest port complex.

“Fortunately, many in the supply chain are actively working together to tackle what are widely acknowledged to be the real causes of the current congestion problems. The recent agreement by the four largest chassis leasing companies to form a common pool is a big step forward,” Mr Cushing added. “To achieve real solutions, we need to stay focused on the real problems.”

As both Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to be affected by increased congestion, they say they are working to gain permission to collaborate further on finding solutions.