LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 20: In an aerial view, shipping containers and container ships are seen at the Port of Los Angeles on September 20, 2021 near Los Angeles, California. Amid nationwide record-high demand for imported goods and supply chain issues, the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are currently seeing unprecedented congestion. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Southern California faces a worsening backlog of cargo ships in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. According to reports on Thursday, at least 65 cargo ships are anchored outside the Port of L.A., waiting to offload their cargo. This is almost twice as many ships as just one month ago.
Port officials pointed to a lack of workers and COVID restrictions as the reason they were unable to offload cargo quicker. They added they’re now working to add weekend and overnight shifts in order to ease the backlog.
Officials also explained there is a lack of trucks and the freight rail isn’t allowing a steady movement of cargo out of the ports fast enough.
CARGO UPDATE (Sept. 24, 2021): All Port of Los Angeles terminals are open and operational, with 25 vessels in port today. Labor crews working on 19 container ships, two tankers and three dry bulk carriers; one cruise ship. https://t.co/ig2Qixagc9 pic.twitter.com/fJeCrH1gGn
— Port of Los Angeles (@PortofLA) September 24, 2021
“Our dwell time for on dock rail has come down just a bit at 11.7 days from the all time high. Much more work is happening there with our western railroad partners and PHL here locally in Los Angeles. We’re also seeing that on dock rail containers waiting to be loaded is nearly 8,000 units. That’s about four times what it should be at this juncture,” mentioned Gene Seroka, the executive director at the Port of Los Angeles.
The ports of L.A. and Long Beach handle some 40 percent of all cargo traffic coming into the U.S. In the meantime, officials said they’re not expecting the backlog to clear anytime soon due to record-high volumes of cargo imports coming in.
Source: One America News Network
