The plague of congestion

This congestion, although not caused by the labour troubles on the US west coast, has in part been influenced by them, because the increased import volumes and larger ship calls from re-routed cargo have caused blockages and costly delays for both truckers and cargo owners.

A spokesperson from the port authority told Port Strategy that the terminal operators have extended gate hours and that Global Terminal has announced that it will, for now, remain open until 6pm each day to accommodate more pickups.

At the end of March, the port authority warned truckers to among other things, utilise extended hours and Saturday gates when available, evaluate opportunities to minimise the morning crush on the gates and pick up containers as promptly as possible. But there is still a congestion issue which needs to be dealt with.

The port authority said that in the shorter term terminals have received more than a dozen “extra loaders” ocean carriers employed to handle additional volume.

But in the longer term it is “actively working on solutions” with the Council on Port Performance (CPP). It said that these are complex issues that take time to work through and are not as simple as just extending the hours or hiring more people. As with anything worth doing – it takes time and the coordination of many partners to get it right.

It said incoming improvements in July will include an updated traffic management plan, a new Chassis Management System, increased use of block stowage for certain rail cargo and the implementation of a Terminal Information Portal System (TIPS), where interested parties will be able to obtain terminal information in a single website.

A Trucker Guidebook is also in draft format and currently under review with several trucking companies, also due to come into effect in July.

Meanwhile, the port authority said it could be several more weeks before activity in the port normalises.