When ships sit outside ports and containers are not picked up and returned quickly, that loss of effective capacity causes record spot rates, high demurrage and detention costs, and lengthening transit times.
Port of Los Angeles
Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles is the largest container port in the United States, measured by container volume and cargo value. The port's seven container terminals are served by BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. Jointly, with neighboring Port of Long Beach, its facilities comprise the leading gateway for U.S. export/import shipments with China/Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Despite initiatives to deploy advanced new technologies, congestion at the L.A.-Long Beach port complex has long been a challenge for shippers, carriers, and other stakeholders. Featuring the nation’s largest on-dock rail assets, the port offers the highest frequency of intermodal access to 14 major freight hubs across the U.S. Its digital information platform provides maritime supply chain partners superior reliability, predictability and line-of-sight planning capabilities that help assure maximum cargo efficiency and speed. In Los Angeles-Long Beach, private-sector developers of information portals such as GE Transportation and Advent Intermodal Solutions’ eModal, often in cooperation with port authorities, have operations in major gateways.
Webcasts
Sep 15, 2021 9:00AM EDT
Sep 16, 2021 9:00AM EDT
Sep 30, 2021 10:00AM EDT
Press Releases
13 Aug 2021
Although US imports from Asia have returned to single-digit growth after 11 consecutive months of double-digit increases, the cargo base is so large that even incremental growth this peak season will result in record import volumes.
13 Aug 2021
President Biden’s recognition of global supply chain challenges draws attention to congestion in the US supply chain and should result in direct measures to mitigate the problems, according to the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.
13 Aug 2021
With ocean carriers pushing importers toward transloading in California amid record-high spot intermodal rates, trucks are becoming a hot commodity in Los Angeles in August.
30 Jul 2021
Tight intermodal rail capacity and a massive wave of US imports are encouraging transloading to trucks and boosting truckload spot rates from Southern California to inland distribution points.
29 Jul 2021
The backlog of vessels outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is rapidly approaching levels seen during last year’s peak season due to continued explosive imports and inland rail bottlenecks.
27 Jul 2021
The reopening of the US and European economies after last year’s COVID-19 lockdowns spurred a resurgence in the trans-Atlantic container trade as business activity in two of the world’s largest economies showed better than expected growth in May, with increases concentrated at US ports that have undergone major expansions.
18 Jun 2021
The six busiest North American ports eked out gains in import market share during 2020 thanks to the surge in inbound container volumes at the biggest gateways.
18 May 2021
Although US imports from Asia in April did not match the impressive volume recorded in March, it was nevertheless the busiest April on record and the 10th consecutive month of year-over-year import increases since last July.
19 Mar 2021
There is no solution currently on the horizon that will prevent the next meltdown at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, irrespective of what triggers it.
01 Mar 2021
Backups at US ports will diminish gradually over several months only as COVID-19 vaccines are distributed and infection rates slow, IHS Markit’s chief economist told JOC’s virtual TPM21.
05 Feb 2021
Seeing glimpses of improved productivity, terminal operators in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach predict a return to some sense of normalcy between April and June.
13 Jan 2021
Kip Louttit, executive director at the maritime exchange, said that 18 more vessels are slated to call the port complex over the next three days, as ships at anchor outpace ships at berth.
24 Dec 2020
Congestion issues in Los Angeles and Long Beach have been so severe during the past six months that the US Federal Maritime Commission has opened a formal investigation into carrier practices the commission believes are contributing to the problems.
30 Nov 2020
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demand in the United States and the Caribbean and Central America caused two-way trade between the regions to contract in the first nine months of 2020.
06 Nov 2020
With the entire Southern California supply chain overwhelmed by imports, harbor truckers are asking ocean carriers to suspend detention and demurrage charges until the congestion problems are fixed.
03 Nov 2020
CMA CGM’s move to expand its intermodal surcharge to Southern California reflects what some forwarders and drayage operators say is a worsening situation at the port complex as elevated Asia import volumes don’t let up.
06 Oct 2020
The purchase of Value Logistics gives Forward a bigger intermodal presence in the South-Central distribution hub as freight volumes of all types rise, said CEO Tom Schmitt.
22 Sep 2020
Equipment providers and terminal operators say excessive container and chassis dwell times at import warehouses in Southern California are the main culprit in recent congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
21 Sep 2020
The intensity of the Asia import surge is such that executives believe a return-to-normal container flow might still take months given how out of balance the system has already become in recent weeks.
07 Sep 2020
Data shows that whether it is for e-commerce or inventory restocking, importers and their forwarders and carrier partners are favoring Southern California, and there’re plenty of reasons for Los Angeles-Long Beach to hold that oft-begrudging allure among e-tailers.
18 Aug 2020
Asian gateways continued to increase their dominant share of the global port market in 2019, handling nearly 80 percent of the total throughput of the top 50 container ports worldwide.
30 Jul 2020
A new app marketplace connecting drayage providers and two terminals in Los Angeles could lay down a marker for how software integrations and common data standards will make harbor truckers lives more manageable in the Southern California port complex.
14 Jul 2020
Truck turn times in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to improve, but truckers seek more timely information from carriers and terminals so they can further reduce visit times.
04 Jun 2020
All 10 of the busiest US cargo ports registered declines in container volumes in early 2020, with only modest improvement forecasted for the second half of the year due to a muted peak season.
26 May 2020
Increased import tariffs on Chinese-made toys in 2019 caused some shippers to shift sourcing to Vietnam, accelerating the diversion of those cargoes from Los Angeles and Long Beach to ports on the East and Gulf coasts.
25 May 2020
With schools and retailers shut down across the country, imports this summer of back-to-school items and holiday season goods may be much lower than in prior years.
21 May 2020
The savings afforded by the safe harbor tax credit has US solar energy developers rethinking traditional project logistics processes, purchasing and importing materials much earlier in the construction cycle.
04 May 2020
The years-long market share bleed from North America’s traditional West Coast container gateways continued in 2019, with Savannah, Houston and Prince Rupert the main beneficiaries.
20 Mar 2020
Workers at ports, warehouses, and trucking companies are receiving exemptions from state “stay-at-home” mandates because they are judged as essential to the US supply chain.
12 Mar 2020
Freight forwarders and non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOCCs) don’t believe the disruption related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) rises nearly to the level of the port labor slowdowns in 2014-2015 or Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy in 2016.
06 Mar 2020
Due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus, truckers are urging the Federal Maritime Commission to push for relief against detention charges and rising chassis fees.
04 Mar 2020
While Ocean Network Express is waiving detention penalties tied to the coronavirus, other ocean carriers have not shown as much flexibility when cargo owners cannot return empty boxes during the supply chain disruption.
02 Mar 2020
Initiatives aimed at turning container ports from conduits of physical freight activity into hubs for the digital information surrounding those cargo movements are underway in virtually every major global gateway.
26 Feb 2020
Los Angeles and Long Beach ports predict a 12 to 15 percent decline in cargo volume in the first quarter due largely to the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on production in Asia.
13 Feb 2020
The long-promised National Freight Strategic Plan should be about more than highways, groups representing US ports and shippers said this week. The question still is how to pay for freight priorities.
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