Container and chassis dwell times in Los Angeles-Long Beach edged lower in December.

Mega-ships and California environmental regulatory pressure is pushing APM Terminals to automate 100 acres of its Los Angeles facility.

The cause of the extreme gridlock at Los Angeles-Long Beach is manifold.

A space shortage from high tariff-threat-induced volume has prompted shippers and 3PLs to seek alternative, nearby container space.

When imports increased strongly last summer, due in part to front-loading of shipments to get ahead of the Trump administration’s tariffs on China, spot rates soared by more than $1,000 to each coast.

David Arian, a former international president of the ILWU and more recently Port of Los Angeles harbor commissioner, was a committed activist for workers’ rights and community causes. He died Wednesday at age 72.

The Los Angeles and Long Beach executive directors promised shippers and truckers they would deliver several action items within six months to relieve mounting congestion.

Eastbound trans-Pacific spot rates fell for the fourth straight week.

Following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires on Saturday at the G20 summit, President Trump agreed to a 90-day truce in which the US wouldn’t impose higher tariffs on Jan 1. as threatened.

The two sitting commissioners on the US Federal Maritime Commission on Thursday voted to allow the PierPass 2.0 extended gates program featuring a flat-fee pricing model to take effect.

“This is the reality today. We must focus on service levels to make sure terminals are fluid,” Steve Balaski, senior business development manager for containers at the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma, told the recent Western Cargo Conference of freight forwarders and customs brokers.

PierPass, the oldest extended-gates program in North America, was launched in 2005 to increase throughput capacity at the largest US port complex while diverting a sizable portion of the truck traffic from the peak daytime hours in order to relieve traffic congestion on local freeways and roads.

While these two related issues are present to various degrees at other gateways, the problems are magnified in the largest US port complex, where peak-season volumes now being handled at the 12 container terminals are contributing to an annual volume of more than 16 million TEU.

Justice for Port Drivers, a Teamsters-sponsored group that has promoted picketing and other job actions over the past five years, will participate in job actions at the ports, two motor carrier facilities, warehouses, and rail yards beginning Monday morning.

By improving connectivity in the harbor through more on-dock rail, smoother hand-offs from the vessel to rail, and more timely and accurate data flow, West Coast ports will offer shippers a more attractive package for shipping discretionary cargo through their gateways to the eastern half of the United States, Los Angeles and Long Beach port executives agree.

As the US chassis sector evolves, no one method of operation fits all ports/regions, but one appears to offer truckers an advantage.

The key to the top-tier ports’ dominant share of Asian imports is that ocean carriers have chosen the four gateways as the first call inbound on their services from Asia. And that ensures that retailers and other large importers receive what they value most.