The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have hit yet
another new congestion milestone: a record 100 ships are waiting at anchor or
in drift zones, including 70 container ships.
The San Pedro port complex is the busiest hub for U.S.
import container traffic, and its terminals have been hard pressed to keep up
with voracious American demand for consumer goods. 80 percent of the products
consumed in the U.S. are imported, and with spending on in-person services
curtailed by the pandemic, Americans can budget more for goods than ever
before. This means that more inbound cargo and outbound empties are passing
through the LA/Long Beach truck gates than ever - roughly 10 percent more than
in September 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the global supply chain.
Still, the ports' sustained effort has not been enough to
offset the firehose of cargo volume coming from China's biggest export hubs.
The number of vessels drifting or anchored off LA / Long Beach has steadily
risen for months, regularly setting new records. As of Tuesday, the count stood
at 100 vessels, beating last month's record of 97. (In a previous bout of
congestion in 2014, the ports were astonished to see 12 vessels waiting.) As
might be expected, dozens more are in transit on the core transpacific trade
lanes, and the number of waiting ships may well rise.
Following pressure from President Joe Biden, LA / Long Beach
terminal operators have agreed to transition to 24/7 gate hours. However,
extended hours are not expected to resolve the supply chain crisis at a single
stroke: the backlog is just as serious in rail yards, truck depots and
warehouses.
"These issues go through the entire chain, from ship to
shelf," Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg told ABC. "That's
why we're not just working with the ports. It's the truckers, the rail
companies, the operators and also those retail companies that are at the other
end of those supply chains."
Any relief would be welcomed by American retailers, and by
the ports' local neighbors. In addition to elevated emissions from idling
vessels and extra truck traffic, residents of Wilmington and Long Beach have to
put up with trailered containers tailing back into residential streets.