The Port of Long Beach reported its second-busiest October on record last month as it works to clear a backlog of containers that has limited capacity at terminals and hampered the flow of imports, the port said Thursday.

Volumes were strong enough to mark the port’s second-busiest October on record behind October 2020. Stevedores and terminal operators moved 789,716 TEUs last month, down 2.1% from last year.

Imports in October were down 4.3% to 385,000 TEUs, while exports were up 6.6% to 122,214 TEUs. Empty containers moving through the port, which have been a major contributor to the backlogs and highlight the significant trade imbalance, were down 2.4% to 282,502 TEUs.

“All sectors of the supply chain have reached capacity and it’s time for all of us to step up and get these goods delivered,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero. “In Long Beach, we are trying to add capacity by finding vacant land to store containers, extending terminal operating hours and implementing a fee that will incentivize ocean carriers to get their containers out of the Port as soon as possible.”

The fee Cordero refers to is the expanded “dwell rate” that the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are implementing to incentivize the flow of cargo containers moving through the two San Pedro Bay ports. The new policy imposes a daily fee on ocean carriers for the dwell time of import containers at the marine terminals, which starts at $100 per day and increases in increments of $100 for each day beyond the allowed dwell time (9 days or more for truckloads and six or more for rail). Ocean carriers have until November 15 to clear imported containers, which have already been unloaded from their vessels, before the fees are applied.

 

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