The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced earlier this week that they would charge shipping lines with containers overstaying on port property. The move comes as part of a series of steps to clear the US’s clogged trade arteries. Starting November 1, containers waiting nine days or longer for truck transport and boxes waiting three or more days by rail would incur a fee. The surcharge of $100 per container will increase by $100 each day.
The backlog of containers has grown over the past few months amid surging imports of goods from Asia. Before the import boom, containers awaiting a truck stayed for less than four days on average, while those waiting for a train stayed for less than two. In the meantime, more than 75 vessels were waiting for unloading space off the California coast late Tuesday.
Major rail and trucking companies also took their own measures to ease the bottlenecks. Railroad giant Union Pacific is trying to lure shipping lines to deliver containers to its Long Beach transfer facility during off-peak weekend hours by offering a refund of $60 per container. Meanwhile, the American Trucking Associations warned that the US is short of 80,000 truck drivers currently, which could surpass 160,000 in 2030. According to the association, the US will need to recruit nearly 1 million truckers in the next decade to replace retiring ones and keep up with the growth in freight demand.
