L.A., Long Beach ports issue surcharges to help clear congestion

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in San Pedro Bay, California, are assessing surcharges to carriers that dwell at the terminals, further affecting port congestion.

Ocean carriers will be charged for each container that dwells nine days or more if scheduled to move by truck, or each container that dwells three days or more if scheduled to move by rail. The charge will amount to $100 per container per day.

Pre-pandemic, the average dwell time for truck delivery was under four days while the average for rail delivery was less than two days. About 40% of the port’s containers fall into these categories, Port of L.A. Executive Director Gene Seroka said in a press release.

The fees collected will be reinvested into efficiency programs and other efforts working to address the port congestion issue, he said.

"We must expedite the movement of cargo through the ports to work down the number of ships at anchor," Seroka said. "If we can clear this idling cargo, we’ll have much more space on our terminals to accept empties, handle exports, and improve fluidity for the wide range of cargo owners who utilize our ports."