L.A., Long Beach ports' container dwell fee remains on hold

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have again postponed implementation of their container dwell fee, this time until Dec. 13.

The fee had been set take effect Dec. 6. But since the fee was announced in October, the two ports have seen a combined decline of 37% in aging cargo on the docks. Executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after another week of monitoring data, port officials said in a joint press release.

Under the temporary policy approved Oct. 29 by the harbor commissions of both ports, ocean carriers can be charged for each import container that falls into one of two categories: In the case of containers scheduled to move by truck, ocean carriers could be charged for every container dwelling nine days or more. For containers moving by rail, ocean carriers could be charged if a container has dwelled for six days or more.

Currently, no date has been set to start the count with respect to container dwell time.

The ports plan to charge ocean carriers in these two categories $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day until the container leaves the terminal.

Before the pandemic-induced import surge began in mid-2020, on average, containers for local delivery remained on container terminals under four days, while containers destined for trains dwelled less than two days, port officials said.