Targeting port congestion in LA-Long Beach

Record cargo volumes each month continue to enter the US with all North American ports facing berth congestion.

With the extraordinary cargo volumes of this 18-month period – we recommend customers keep an agile and resilient approach to their supply chain planning and add alternative routings as a buffer.

To assist you, we’re offering

• Extended hours for truck gates: In the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, container terminals are extending truck gate hours to help customers and truckers improve the velocity of cargo flow.
  
  We encourage all our customers and trucking partners to please keep your truck appointments - and to not make more appointments than necessary. Missed appointments still account for up to 30% of appointments. Please keep in mind container terminals are hiring port labor to ensure they have sufficient labor to cover the cargo handling needs of all truck appointments so a 30% drop is a significant cost and takes valuable port labor away from other important port work.
  
  Saturday gates are being offered at APM Terminals Pier 400 Los Angeles and are underutilized, so please try and tap into this opportunity.
  
• More landside logistics capacity via an increased fleet of trucks along with more container storage depots and warehouse capacity is underway to help customers get cargo out of the port more swiftly.
• Gap loaders: We’re using gap loaders to compensate for missed sailings that are caused by port congestion. We have also made sailing schedule times leaner to avoid further delays.

We continue to try and find new ways to accommodate our customers during these unprecedented times. Your supply chain is of the utmost concern to us and we will continue to keep you informed of all developments. Please reach out to your local Maersk professional for more information.