The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are going to impose fines on ocean carriers for imported containers lingering too long at their terminals.
$100 per day will be charged for each container sitting in the yards gathering dust for nine days or more if it is scheduled to be picked up by truck, or for three days or more if it is due to be sent on by rail. The rate will increase by $100 per container for each additional day beyond that minimum threshold.
The measures will come into force on November 1st.
The news was announced in a press release jointly prepared by the port authorities of the two ports.
For Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka, it’s critical to free up idling cargo for more terminal space: He said that they needed the space so they could finally get back to accepting empties, managing exports and improving traffic flows.
Mario Cordero, executive director of the Port of Long Beach, also said that with the growing backlog of ships off the coast, they had to act immediately to urge the rapid removal of containers from their port terminals.
In the Port of Los Angeles alone, 94,000 containers are currently stacked on the quays, 40% of which have been in port for over nine days. 30% of the total have been there for at least 13 days.
Translation by Giles Foster