Ports of the Americas

Special Report

Southern California supply chain fluid despite surging import volumes

By Bill Mongelluzzo

Industry stakeholders are pointing to minimal supply chain disruption at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach this peak season despite record import volumes , thanks to warehouses throughout Southern California being able to keep churning freight through their facilities .

During the height of COVID-related supply chain chaos in 2021 – 22 , warehouses were unable to gear up for import surges and became a major bottleneck in the regional supply chain . That triggered chassis shortages , congested marine terminals and vessel bunching outside the ports .

But a steady flow of imports this spring and summer has helped warehouse operators to maintain staffing and equipment at peak performance levels , said Scott Weiss , vice president of technical sales-warehouse and distribution services for North America at A . P . Moller Maersk .

“ There used to be much more seasonality to imports . Now , it ’ s more spread out ,” Weiss told the Journal of Commerce . “ Warehouses like when it ’ s spread out .”

“ The reason why we are fluid [ today ] is because the warehouses are keeping up ,” Sal Ferrigno , vice president of SSA Marine , which operates three container terminals in Long Beach , told the Journal of Commerce .

Unlike during the COVID-19 pandemic , when warehouses could not find enough workers , those facilities appear to be fully staffed today , Ferrigno said .

Los Angeles and Long Beach , which account for almost 50 % of US imports from Asia , handled an all-time high of 849,806 TEUs of Asian imports in August , up 23.7 % year over year and about 16 % higher than both August 2021 and 2022 , according to PIERS , a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global .

Chizhevskaya Ekaterina / Shutterstock . com

24 Journal of Commerce | October 7 , 2024 www . joc . com