In another sign of just how difficult trans-Pacific shipping
has gotten, new data reports that transit times between China and the U.S. West
Coast ports have doubled in the past six months. Despite the recent attention
and growing initiatives aimed at easing some of the congestion, the backlog
continues to reach new records at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with
no short-term decline expected.
Between the second half of May 2021 and the beginning of
October 2021, the average transit time from Chinese base ports to the U.S. West
Coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach increased from 19 to 36 days,
according to a new analysis from digital freight forwarding company Shifl. In
some cases, Shifl says in the spring carriers were still making the transit in
16 days from port to port in May.
“Usually, a ship from Chinese base ports like Shanghai,
Ningbo will take between 16-18 days to arrive and discharge cargo at U.S. West
Coast ports,” said Shabsie Levy, Founder, and CEO of Shifl, commenting on the
findings of the data analysis. “The increase in transit to 36 days, makes it
extremely painful for businesses dependent on supply chains.”
They also noted that while the port-to-port transit time has
nearly doubled that is only part of the problem. With the ports facing delays
due to lack of adequate landside infrastructure, containers are sometimes stuck
in closed areas within the port delaying inland transit even further leading to
potential business-crippling conditions says Shifl.
“While we are in constant communication with our customers
about the location, release, and delivery times of their shipments, when a ship
spends 2-3 weeks waiting to unload, that’s a nerve-wracking situation for the
customer,” said Levy.
With daily reports highlight the problems and challenges
along the supply chain, the Biden Administration joined with the ports and
their unions to announce new initiatives designed at easing the backlogs. The
ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach both committed to moving to 24/7 operations
along with the truck drivers and longshoremen unions to clear more containers
out of the yards and speed them inland to their destinations. The ports of
Seattle and Tacoma are also increasing their hours and opening on Saturdays to
move containers, while ports such as Oakland are seeing a resurgence in vessel
traffic.
After a few days of declines in the backlog, the Marine
Exchange for Southern California reports that the number of vessels waiting to
enter the ports again spiked to record levels highlighting the challenges that
lay ahead. For the first time, 100 vessels (all types) are waiting to enter the
Southern California ports. This is three
higher than a record set a month ago when 97 ships were waiting on September 19.
With 57 ships at berth, there is a total of 157 commercial
vessels in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The surge continues with
another 45 vessels due to arrive in the next three days.
Since last Friday, October 15, the number of vessels holding
beyond the anchorage rose by 10 ships to a total of 43. Among those ships that
cannot even get to the anchorage are 33 containerships, beating the prior
record of 29 boxships on September 20, as well as a few bulkers, tankers, and
general cargo ships also waiting.
While there are a total of 70 containerships waiting outside
the twin ports, a third of the vessels are considered to be
mega-containerships, over 10,000 TEU each. Combined those 23 containerships
have a rated total capacity of 281,000 TEU.
“With 40 percent of U.S. inbound containers moving through
Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, efforts by the administration are rightfully
focused on a critical node of the global supply chain,” says Shifl’s Levy. “The
fact that the President of the world’s largest economy is getting involved in
addressing this problem is already a huge relief for importers who have been
struggling so much.”