LA, LB want regulatory approval to fight congestion together - Peter Tirschwell | Dec 24, 2014 10:05AM EST - JOC Signaling that resolution of congestion issues in Southern California is still a ways away, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are taking the additional step of asking the federal government for permission to work together to resolve the worst congestion seen in years at the largest U.S. port complex. “Port of Long Beach wants to make sure this never happens in the future,” the port said in a release issued on Tuesday. Upon the arrival of Christmas there is evidence of some, but not much, improvement in container dwell times. One well-informed executive said Wednesday that dwell times, that is, the time import containers are sitting on terminals, have come down slightly to 6-7 days from 8-9 days in prior weeks. That is twice what they normally are versus three times what they normally are a few weeks ago. Only two container ships were at anchor on Wednesday morning, down from 12 on Nov. 11, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. But the ports are far from out of the woods. Volumes remained heavy through the end of the year and January and February was expected to be busy in advance of the Feb. 19 Chinese New Year holiday. And, of course, longshore negotiations as of Dec. 24 were at a standstill with employers requesting federal mediation to help find agreement on several unresolved issues with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. On Monday the Port of Long Beach took the incremental step of approving a petition to the Federal Maritime Commission, the U.S. maritime regulatory agency, to work with Los Angeles to mitigate the congestion issues. Los Angeles had already approved such a measure. The ports say they will collaborate with on issues including rail operations, chassis supply and storage, vessel calls, truck turn times and terminal operations. “Separately, we’re all working on solutions,” Jon Slangerup, chief executive of the Port of Long Beach, said in a statement. “But these are systemic problems that can only be solved by bringing all the parties together, and agreeing on long-term, integrated solutions throughout the supply chain.” The Long Beach port also authorized the release of a Request for Proposals for the creation of a “peak chassis pool,” to augment the supply chassis. It also gave preliminary approval to a cap of four days for dockage fees charged by the Port to ships at berth. Due to delays in cargo movement, the port said, ships have required longer stays at port and have had to pay higher fees as a result. The 4-day dockage cap would forgo an estimated $150,000 in fees by allowing longer stays without charge between Dec. 1, 2014, and March, 31. In a separate measure, Long Beach plans to open a temporary empty container depot on its Pier S on Dec. 29 to provide truckers with space to unload empty containers and free up their bare chassis to pick up cargo. The 30-acre storage facility will be open until the end of March 2015.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 23:13:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015