Congestion leads to Port Fees & Frustration

Things have gotten desperate in the ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach, California.

Congestion is blocking off the supply chain to a drizzle. Truckers are not taking advantage of the 24/7 operation hours of the ports because they don’t have the equipment or there is no room in the customer’s warehouses that have grown too full to accommodate the incoming product. And now there is a bill that goes into effect on November 1st, but will not be assessed until the 15th that will cause carriers to pay $100, compounded each day, with no cap.

The surcharges are being put in place just a few days after the officials in Long Beach relaxed the regulations limiting the height of stacked shipping containers from two high to four high. This is twice the normal limit, providing an outlet for the cargo stuck on the docks a place to go. 

The Commissioners for Los Angeles Harbor voted unanimously to charge ship operators a dwelling fee for spending more than 9 days to improve cargo movement amid the ongoing import surge. For rail cars, the delay is only six days. The fee increases to $100 per container per day until it leaves the terminal. 

The collected fees will be invested in programs designed to enhance the port’s efficiency, speeding up the cargo and lessening the impacts of congestion. 

Port officials said about 40% of the containers imported through the port’s terminals were idling for at least 9 days. Prior to the import surge, containers were scheduled to be moved by truck idled at the terminals for 4 days. Those scheduled to be moved by train dwelled less than 2 days. The Port of LA reported cargo ships were currently idling for 12 days before being unloaded while the average containers idled at rail yards was over 4 days. 

The fees themselves are going to keep compounding exponentially if the cargo isn’t put into motion and the retailers are afraid that they will be the ones facing the price increase to compensate for carriers to pay for the dwelling fees. 

This is where Camelot is working for you to reduce the stress of the continuously rising fees.

We are meeting the ever growing customer expectations calls for logistics concepts. It’s the key to successfully linking all components of today’s complex global supply chain networks, and offers superior services to customers. We cover the increasing demand for individualized yet sustainable cost-effective delivery services that require a rethink of logistics concepts. At Camelot, we help clients build reliable, secure and transparent logistics setups that can adapt quickly to change. With these up and increasing import fees and incoming products and cargo, we are doing everything to stay ahead of the curve and keep your product moving.