LA-LB ( pictured ) handled a record 849,806 TEUs of US imports from Asia in August . Moab Republic / Shutterstock . com
Near-dock safety valves
Marine terminal operators say several additional developments since the pandemic are fostering improved supply chain fluidity , notably the access to more near-dock “ surge ” yards that provide temporary storage for inbound containers until they are needed at the warehouses or put on trains headed eastbound . This frees up space at the terminals to handle a continuous discharge of import containers and prevents a backlog of ships in the harbor .
“ We ’ re definitely seeing more container dray-offs today ,” said Sepehr Matinifar , vice president of logistics services at the Wonderful Company , a developer of industrial and storage space in Southern California . Major retailers such as Amazon and Walmart are heavy users of the near-dock storage yards , he said .
“ There used to be much more seasonality to imports . Now , it ’ s more spread out .”
Mario Cordero , executive director of the Port of Long Beach , cited the port ’ s Pier S overflow yard that is helping to keep dwell times for containers that are trucked from the terminals below three days . According to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association ( PMSA ), which tracks container dwell times , the average dwell time in the port complex in August for containers leaving by truck was 2.95 days . That ’ s up from 2.81 days in July but was the 10th consecutive month of sub-three-day dwells since October 2023 , according to the PMSA .
When marine terminals are fluid , vessels move immediately to berth and depart on schedule after they have been worked . That prevents the backlogs that developed during the COVID-19 pandemic , which reached a record 109 container ships in January 2022 , according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California .
A record 67 container ships were scheduled to arrive in the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex in the last week of September .
“ Vessels and cargo arriving , departing and shifting around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to move normally with no labor delays and ample labor ,” said Kip Louttit , executive director of the Marine Exchange .
‘ Not a meltdown ’
The post-COVID environment was also marked by excessive off-terminal chassis dwell times as chassis with containers sat idle in warehouse yards or on the streets waiting for space to open at the warehouses . Chassis street dwells during and immediately after the pandemic spiked to more than 10 days , according to the Pool of Pools , which is managed by the three largest intermodal equipment providers in Southern California .
As of Sept . 19 , the average street dwell time for 40-foot chassis was 5.9 days . That ’ s below the seven-day-plus dwell times that can contribute to port congestion and reduce chassis availability in the Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor area .
Another reason there is no significant chassis shortage is that a number of drayage operators serving the ports now own or lease chassis , which reduces their dependence on shared containers in the Pool of Pools and promotes a more efficient use of chassis , according to Matt Schrap , CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association .
The only sector of the Southern California supply chain that continues to register below-par performance is intermodal rail . The average dwell time of rail containers on the Los Angeles-Long Beach marine terminals in August was 8.2 days , up from 5.66 days in July and the highest since November 2022 .
“ There are some rail container backlogs now ,” said Alan McCorkle , president of Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles .
LA-LB rail container dwells jump in August
Average number of days local- and rail-delivered containers spend at Los Angeles and Long Beach port terminals
Days
16 14
12
10 10 8
6
4
2 L Jan 2023
Jul
Jan 2024 Mar , 2024
Local container dwell time Rail container dwell time
Source : Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
Jul
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26 Journal of Commerce | October 7 , 2024 www . joc . com