San Pedro Ports Delay Container Dwell Fee By Another Week Citing ‘Improved Fluidity’

The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have once again postponed the implementation of their new container dwell fee for another week.

The delay is now the third since the San Pedro Bay ports had originally planned to begin assessing the fee on November 15th.

In postponing the fee, the twin ports on Monday reported “improved fluidity” at terminals and a combined decline of 37% in aging cargo on docks since the fee was first announced on October 25th. The latest postponement comes after meetings today with U.S. Port Envoy John Porcari, ocean liner companies and marine terminal operators.

Under the temporary policy developed coordination with the Biden-Harris Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force and U.S. Department of Transportation and approved by the Harbor Commissions of both ports, ocean carriers would be charged for each import container that remains on docks over an allotted time of 9 or more days for truck-bound containers and 6 or more days for rail-bound.

Containers falling in those two categories would be charged a daily fee starting at $100 per day and increasing by $100 increments per day until the container is removed. That is, a truck bound-import container would be assess a cumulative fee of $100 on day 9, $200 on day 10, $300 on day 11 etc. until removed, without limit.

Ocean carriers will inevitably pass any fees accrued onto shippers and thereby consumers.

Based on numbers released Monday, the Port of Los Angeles currently has 23,423 containers sitting on docks for 9 or more days, while Port of Long Beach has 20,854 at 9+ days. Combined, that’s 44,277 containers that would have been subjected to the fee if imposed as planned.

Any fees collected from dwelling cargo are expected to be reinvested into programs designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity and address congestion impacts.

Charts provided Monday by both ports show an uptick in lingering containers after the Thanksgiving holiday:

Port of Los Angeles

Port of Long Beach

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