Port Congestion Only Gets Worse

A lingering labor shortage, increased shipping traffic and the Labor Day holiday have all contributed to a major traffic jam at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif.

Experts predict it will only get worse with the holiday shipping season revving up.

“Everybody is up in arms about it, the truckers, the railroad people, the port authorities, the distributors and the retailers,” said Capt. Manny Aschemeyer, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which is like the air traffic controller for ships. “I have been visited by the Wal-Mart people and the Home Depot people. They were concerned because we live in a just-in-time-delivery world.”

As of Sept. 9, there were 74 ships docked at the two ports and 27 ships anchored beyond the breakwater waiting for a vacant berth. Normally during this time of year there are about 43 ships docked and six at anchor, Aschemeyer said.

The result is that it now takes ships about six to eight days to get their cargo unloaded compared to three to four days.

The ports began experiencing traffic problems in late June when the shipping season revved up a month earlier than normal as retailers brought Back-to-School goods in earlier. A shortage of longshore workers has kept ships waiting longer to be unloaded. Also, early retirement by personnel at the railroads, which transport goods out of the ports and to the Midwest and the East Coast, has contributed to cargo transportation problems.

Since late June, 20 ships have been diverted from the two Southern California ports. Some have gone to Seattle; Oakland, Calif.; or Manzanillo, Mexico, where vessel congestion has been less severe. Other ships have opted to skip their Southern California stop and go to their next destination.

If that weren’t enough, U.S. Customs officials have stepped up random inspections of cargo containers.

“It was bad, and now it is getting worse,” said Robert Krieger, president of Norman Krieger Inc., a Los Angeles customs broker and freight forwarder that has several apparel clients.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose members work at the docks, was authorized recently to hire 3,000 casual workers to help union members unload cargo. But most of those new workers won’t be trained until the end of the year.

Things are only slated to get worse. “We see more ships set to arrive, compared to those departing over the next several days,” Aschemeyer said. “And that, unfortunately, will only exacerbate the overall congestion problems.” —Deborah Belgum