The Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach, on Tuesday, the number of container ships waiting to be berthed and unloaded was 84, a new record. While the two ports are racing to clean up the imported stranded containers, more and more empty containers are stacked in the docks.
Since the new crown epidemic shifted consumption from restrictive entertainment such as travel and dining to physical consumption, US ports have been flooded with cargo. The new crown epidemic has also reduced the labor required to maintain the smooth flow of goods. Epidemic control measures have restricted the staffing of terminals and warehouses, and elderly truck drivers have retire early.
Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said there are currently about 65,000 empty containers on the port’s terminal, an increase of about 18% from a few weeks ago. He added that the "sweeper ship" is entering the port and transporting some of the boxes back to factories in Asia.
Seroka said that so far, ocean liners have dispatched 6 more ships to carry empty containers of 17,500 TEUs, and the other two are in transit.
At the same time, Seroka said that since October 24, the number of imported containers at the Port of Los Angeles has fallen by 25% to 71,000.
Railroad and truck drivers have made some progress in transporting imported containers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. This has prompted company executives to postpone new fees for overdue imports by a week. (For information on port detention fee extension, please click here)
Obviously, sending a few more "clearing ships" is far from enough. While actively dealing with the backlog of imported containers and reducing the number of ships waiting to be berthed, empty containers have also caused serious congestion in the port.
