Port Congestion Update 12/24/21

Weekly Vessels Anchored and at Terminals as of 12/24/2021

LA & LB: Anchored 23 | Terminal 30 | Loitering 67
Oakland: Anchored 6 | Terminal 7 | Drifting/Loitering 1
NWSA: Anchored 0 | Terminal 4 | Drifting 1

Vessel Congestion Update
On December 20, 2021, the Southern California Marine Exchange reported 108 vessels in the twin ports of Los Angeles (LA) and Long Beach (LB). Of the vessels, 52 are container ships with 24 at anchor or loitering and 28 at a terminal. A specific number of container vessels that normally loiter or are anchored outside the 150-mile safety air emissions exclusion zone referred to as SAQA (Safety & Air Quality Area) was not released by the Marine Exchange. On December 20, 2021, the Port of LA Operations Report indicated that 24 container vessels are anchored within the 40 miles (in-port area) and 67 are loitering/steaming toward the San Pedro Bay. Container vessels are waiting for an average of 19.9 to 33.4 days to reach a terminal to unload their containers.

LA/LB Container Dwell Fee Postponed Until December 27, 2021
Once again, the ports of LA and LB postponed the implementation to charge a container dwell fee this week citing continued progress has been realized in removing aging import cargo from the docks. The fee was initially announced on October 25 and to date, the ports have seen a combined decline of 46% in aging cargo on the docks. The executive directors of each port will continue to assess the implementation of the fee after monitoring the data over the next week as they have done for approximately seven weeks. The 90-day fee policy was passed by both harbor commissions and is set to expire at the end of January, however, they have the option to extend it, if needed.

Clean Air Action Plan – LA-LB Fee Looming
Both ports of LA and LB aim to get an entirely zero-emissions fleet by 2035. To financially assist the effort, the ports plan to collect the long-awaited Clean Truck Fund Rate Fee on April 1, 2022. The program is anticipated to collect a $10 fee per loaded twenty-foot-equivalent unit – TEU by levying the fee on certain drayage trucks to help fund the changeover. At the port of LA, any truck that is not a zero-emission vehicle will get charged while the port of Long Beach will not charge near-zero-emission trucks. It is estimated to collect $45 million per port in the first year. The transition to zero-emission vehicles is estimated to cost $10 billion. It is the port’s ongoing mission to reduce the environmental consequences of the nation’s two busiest ports.

Last week, two pilot zero-emission battery-electric-operated Nikola trucks were delivered to an LA trucking company. The LA-based trucking company announced the company had made a commitment to deliver its first battery-electric vehicle (BEV) trucks by the end of this year. The trucks are designed for local deliveries up to 350 miles and could target distances up to 500 miles to better address the North American regional market. The trucking company expects 30 additional BEV trucks to be delivered in 2022 and an additional 70 to be in place by 2023.

Thank you to all our clients for your business, and we wish you a prosperous New Year! Please contact your Western Overseas representative with any questions.