There has been “major improvement” in recent weeks to ease congestion across the Port of Los Angeles, “but there’s still so much work to do,” Executive Director Gene Seroka told a Washington Post webinar Dec. 9. The profound shortage of truckers and warehouse labor in Southern California remains a severe problem that won’t ease anytime soon, he said.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has rejected a proposal from the Pacific Maritime Association to extend its current labor contract, according to a Nov. 23 report from Bloomberg. That sets up potentially contentious negotiations between the labor union, which represents West Coast dockworkers, and terminal operators and carriers on the West Coast, amid existing supply chain challenges. The current contract, which had already been extended one year, expires mid-2022.
The White House, in a blog post that noted some wins for easing port congestion, said Congress should provide the Federal Maritime Commission with "an updated toolbox to protect exporters, importers, and consumers from unfair practices." It said that the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in the House in August (see 2108100011), "includes good first steps towards the type of longer-term reform to shipping laws that would strengthen America’s global competitiveness."
A new dwelling fee on containers at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports should not be passed on to importers, said Noel Hacegaba, chief operating officer of the Port of Long Beach. Hacegaba was speaking to the U.S. Fashion Industry Association virtual conference, during a Nov. 10 panel on the supply chain.
The Biden administration will allow increased flexibility for existing port grants and support new pop-up container yards for the Port of Savannah as part of a new Biden-Harris Action Plan for America’s Ports and Waterways announced in a fact sheet Nov. 9. The plan “will mobilize federal agencies and lay the foundation for successful implementation of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal,” which includes $17 billion in funding to improve supply chain infrastructure, the White House said.
President Joe Biden announced Oct. 13 that after administration officials negotiated for weeks, they convinced the Port of Los Angeles to operate 24/7, convinced the labor unions to staff those 60 extra hours, and got commitments from major shippers like Walmart, Samsung, FedEx and UPS to use the time, too.
Dwell time for rail cargo at the Port of Los Angeles has dropped from its peak of 13 days down to about four days, the port said Oct. 6. Supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have caused port congestion and delays for more than a year, especially near Los Angeles, where dozens of anchored ships face delays (see 2109200048 and 2102020050).
About 12% of global container capacity is unavailable due to delays from congested ports, Lloyd’s Loading List reported Oct. 4. The report, which references an analysis by supply chain research firm Sea-Intelligence, said the amount of additional capacity needed to meet global shipping demand is “being outstripped by the amount of capacity being held up out of service as it awaits berthing slots.” That adds up to global delays for about 3.1 million 20-foot equivalent units, the report said. The amount of “capacity absorbed by delays” had peaked at 11.3% in February before falling to 8.8% in April, but it has since peaked beyond the previous high point, the report said.
Maersk plans to reduce port calls in northern Europe in a bid to improve its reliability on its Asia-North Europe route, The Loadstar publication reported Sept. 27. The shipping company announced the change due to delays along the shipping route, “network disruptions” and “strong” demand, which has “hammered our schedule reliability,” Maersk said in a Sept. 27 alert. “Maersk will rationalize some of our service coverages to reduce the number of port calls to improve reliability,” the company said. “We advise customers to plan their supply chains well ahead, particularly for the upcoming holiday rush.”
The Federal Maritime Commission met virtually with the European Union and China this week to discuss competition issues affecting the shipping industry, including disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials discussed bottlenecks in the ocean-linked supply chain, how they each have responded to those challenges and “possible actions” to help the shipping industry. “Today’s session of the Global Regulatory Summit provided key competition authorities responsible for the oversight of the container shipping industry the opportunity to share information about what their respective monitoring and enforcement regimes are observing in the marketplace and compare conclusions about carrier behavior,” FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei said.