Little relief in sight at US box terminals

The number of containerships waiting to berth off Long Beach and Los Angeles has dipped slightly, but congestion at the key US container ports remains a constraint on supply chains.

Figures from the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which manages ship traffic for the two San Pedro Bay ports, show there were 22 boxships either at anchor or in drift boxes awaiting berths as of yesterday.

That figure is significantly down from the peak congestion that saw 48 containerships waiting for berths at one point in January, but another 17 are due to arrive within the next three days, reversing the recent decline.

The reduction in the waiting lists for berths has not, however, reduced the pressure on the US’s congested terminals.

“All terminals continue to suffer from severe congestion due to the spike in import volumes,” Hapag-Lloyd said in a customer advisory.

While vaccination programmes had started at Los Angeles and Long Beach, the pandemic was still limiting the labour pool and the hours worked at the ports.

“The demand for available labour affects all terminals, turnaround time for truckers, inter-terminal transfers, the number of daily appointments available for gate transactions and generates delays in vessels operations,” Hapag-Lloyd said.

Further up the west coast in Oakland, a further 19 ships were at anchor or drifting in San Francisco Bay as of the end of last week.

“Berth congestion continues to worsen with ships waiting up to seven shifts at anchorage or beyond the Golden Gate Bridge,” it said.

Labour demand remained high in the port because of increased imports and vessels diverting to Oakland, and Oakland International Container Terminal had a berth out of commission for the assembly of new cranes.

On the east coast, Savannah had 20 ships at anchor last week, with vessels waiting four to five days for a berth.

New York/New Jersey was not suffering from the same berth congestion as its rivals, with most vessels arriving straight to berths, but on-dock dwell times for import volumes were still high, Hapag-Lloyd added.

“Empty containers are a major issue in the port area, with terminal inventories at maximum capacity,” it said. “In some cases terminals are restricting empty returns, which, in turn, is having an adverse impact on available chassis inventory and truck power. Where possible empty loader vessels are being employed to evacuate surplus inventory.”

Gate turn times for truckers were above normal for all terminals and depots, and port roadways were often congested because of long truck lines at several facilities.