The Port of Long Beach will increase its annual throughput capacity by 1 million TEU in December when Long Beach Container Terminal opens a third vessel berth.

Tension is mounting on the West Coast as the ILWU formally rejected an employer offer to extend the existing coastwide contract for one year beyond the July 1, 2022 expiration date.

Although US imports from Asia were down 2.4 percent in October year over year, it was the third-busiest month ever for containerized imports from Asia.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have delayed by one week implementation of costly emergency fees on long-dwell containers as retailers rush to vacate those containers from the docks.

Container lines and their largest import customers are beginning trans-Pacific service contract negotiations earlier month, driven by shippers’ concerns about securing enough contracted space and carriers’ stronger positioning.

Port managers and terminal executives in Los Angeles-Long Beach look to emergency fees on long-dwell containers and sweeper ships to vacate empty boxes as their best bet to relieve congestion amid record vessel arrivals.

Speeding the discharge of import containers from vessels and through congested marine terminals is becoming increasingly urgent as retailers rebuild their depleted inventories, let alone stock store shelves for holiday sales.

A clean truck fee in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is expected to generate more than $90 million, money that will be used in part to provide direct grants to truckers for zero-emission vehicles.

As Southern California ports begin to see the movement of long-dwelling containers, a second terminal operator in Tacoma will begin charging a similar fee, highlighting the need for quick action by West Coast ports to reduce congestion.

Husky Terminal in Tacoma is the first container terminal in the Northwest Seaport Alliance to charge fees for excessive-dwell containers following a similar move in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Observers say emergency container fees in Los Angeles-Long Beach will harm small and mid-sized shippers that don’t have favorable arrangements with carriers for container storage that big-box retailers do.

LA and LB harbor commission approve a 90-day change in its tariff during which time they will charge large fees to carriers, which will likely be passed on to shippers, on excessive-dwell containers.

With retailers failing to respond to incentives designed to mitigate excessive container dwell times on the docks, Los Angeles and Long Beach will hit carriers with punishing storage fees that the lines say they will pass on to their customers.

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will levy costly fees on containers with excessive dwell times in a bid to clear the mounting backlog of vessels at anchor off Southern California.

Union Pacific Railroad says its decision to temporarily suspend westbound container flow at its near-dock ICTF yard in Los Angeles-Long Beach is needed to re-establish eastbound-westbound container balance at the facility.

US Customs and Border Protection is stepping up its efforts to reduce port congestion amid record imports by working with customs brokers to target illegal shipments, thereby freeing up staff and resources to expedite clearance of legitimate imports.

Terminal operators in Los Angeles-Long Beach say 24/7 gate hours are not feasible until retailers and truckers make better use of the 20 hours each weekday that are already available to them.

Even as the Biden administration works to ease US port congestion, fresh data on September imports from Asia shows stakeholders have their work cut out for them.

Schedule volatility in the trans-Pacific, equipment shortages, and changing container delivery dates are preventing US agricultural shippers from capitalizing on what should be a strong year for exports.

Reinstatement of the Ocean Network Express trans-Pacific service to Oakland that ONE canceled earlier this year due to port congestion will add some much-needed vessel capacity to handle agricultural exports.

Terminal operators in Los Angeles-Long Beach are not getting the response they expected from retailers and shippers despite efforts to keep gates open longer to relieve peak season congestion.

A dramatic decline in eastbound trans-Pacific spot rates this week is seen as a temporary reprieve for US importers that was caused by production cutbacks in China and a continuous influx of new capacity of chartered ships.

Warehouses at seaports and inland hubs are filled to capacity as operators find they must pay workers more competitive wages and benefits to attract the labor they need to handle peak season volumes.

Los Angeles-Long Beach ports say they still need more buy-in from shippers to participate in projects designed to increase cargo velocity after 15 months of congestion and little sign of relief for the months ahead.

Container terminals in Vancouver are so overwhelmed with inbound loads and empty containers that they cannot open enough appointment slots for truckers.

The import surge in Seattle-Tacoma this past month has filled local warehouses beyond capacity, crippling the transportation supply chain in the Pacific Northwest.

The ports of Prince Rupert and Vancouver have not matched the rapid growth of US West Coast ports this year, but they are free of congestion and ready for any peak-season volumes that come their way.

Pinched at both Asian load ports and US receiving ports, trans-Pacific carriers in August registered their fourth consecutive month of deteriorating on-time performance.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and their terminal operators seek quick relief from congestion problems as vessel bunching reaches historic levels.

With capacity out of Oakland severely limited by carrier desertions last winter, Northern California agricultural shippers are desperate for vessel space this harvest season.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach promise quick action to extend gate hours amid record cargo volumes, but their suggestions need buy-in from terminal operators, truckers, and shippers.

Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announce new measures and incentives to speed cargo velocity as near-record freight volumes show no signs of slowing and congestion mounts.

Their shared experience amid COVID-19 has brought longshore labor and employers on the West and East coasts closer together and is helping the ports to handle record cargo volumes this year, terminal operators said.

The failure of importers to move their containers from the docks to their warehouses in a timely manner is the root cause of congestion at both East and West coast ports, terminal operators say.

Vessel bunching at US ports and unprecedented bottlenecks landside will continue to cripple the US supply chain because a “fantastic peak” of imports from Asia shows no signs of abating for at least six months, according to industry analysts.

Asset providers say it will be difficult in the short term to satisfy the transportation requirements needed to handle growing cargo volumes in Southern California.

Although monthly year-over-year import growth will be minimal during the peak season, import volumes will still be at near-record levels as they are benchmarked off of unusually large volumes in the second half of 2020.

After going four years without a weekly container line service, Portland announces new services as well as ad-hoc calls by ships chartered by freight forwarders.

Los Angeles-Long Beach terminal operators are pulling out all stops to handle a record 20 million TEU of laden and empty containers this year with the peak season now in full swing.

Fenix Marine Service’s new crane order is the next step in the terminal’s expansion plans to increase throughput capacity and improve productivity as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach grapple with congestion in another year of record container volumes.