Group Aims to Reduce LA-Long Beach Terminal Congestion

A harbor working group that includes 30 terminal operators, trucking executives and labor representatives is moving quickly to address marine terminal congestion in Los Angeles-Long Beach.

“We agreed we have to resolve this situation quickly because the peak season is approaching,” said Bruce Wargo, who heads up the working group.

Harbor truckers in recent weeks have complained to the ports and terminal operators about long lines at the ports’ 13 container facilities. The terminals last year reduced manning and eliminated flex gates and one night gate in response to declining cargo volumes. They were caught unprepared for this year’s surge in container traffic.

Wargo, who is also president of PierPass Inc., the organization formed by terminal operators to manage the ports’ extended gate program, said the working group’s first meeting on Thursday laid out all of the issues.

“The terminal operators acknowledged the concerns and discussed possible solutions that might work,” Wargo said.

Possible solutions include running more early morning and late afternoon flex gates and returning the harbor to five full second shifts each week. Harbor truckers also discussed what they might do to reduce the bunching of trucks at the terminal gates at the start of each work shift.

The goal of the working group is to have all of the terminals agree upon a cohesive plan that is implemented uniformly throughout the harbor, he said.

The PierPass extended gates program was initiated in 2005 in response to severe port congestion the previous year. It made Los Angeles-Long Beach the only port complex in the country that operated 10 full day and night shifts each week.

Wargo said the program worked, with congestion virtually eliminated in subsequent years despite record cargo volumes in 2006 and 2007. Members of the Southern California transportation community believe they can return the harbor to conditions that are at least as fluid as they were in mid-decade, if not better, Wargo said.

Terminal operators will caucus next week to discuss possible remedies and then the entire working group will schedule another meeting, Wargo said.

--Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bmongelluzzo@joc.com.