San Pedro Ports Delay Container Dwell Fee For Seventh Week

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are once again postponing the implementation of the new “container dwell fees,” marking a seventh week in a row.

Since the program was announced on Oct. 25, the twin ports are reporting a decline of 43% in aging cargo on the docks, compared to a 46% reduction the week before and 47% the week before that. “Progress has eased due to year-end holidays,” the Port of Long Beach said in a statement.

The executive directors of both ports will reassess the fee’s implementation after monitoring data over the next week, pushing implementation to no earlier than January 3.

Under the temporary policy approved Oct. 29 by the Harbor Commissions of both ports, ocean carriers can be charged for each import container that lingers on docks. For truck-bound containers the fee will be assessed after 8 days of dwelling, while rail-bound containers can be charged after 5 days. .

The ports plan to charge ocean carriers in these two categories $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day until the container leaves the terminal. Any fees collected from dwelling cargo will be reinvested for programs designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity and address congestion impacts.

The fees were initially planned to be implemented November 15, yet implementation has been postponed by both ports since the start of the program.

As of December 27, there were 18,336 truck-bound import containers and 1,101 rail-bound containers dwelling past the limits at the Port of Long Beach.

At the Port of Los Angeles, there were 20,739 truck-bound import containers dwelling nine or more days and 3,859 rail-bound containers waiting to load, as of December 27.

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