Ship queue off Los Angeles and Long Beach grows as container dwell times peak

In mid-September 2021, congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reached new highs, and the problem was clearly on land, not at sea.

Boxes sitting longer at every step

At a press conference on Sept. 15, 2021, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said container dwell time at terminals had reached its highest level since the import surge began, at six days. That was up from 5.3 days the month before.

Containers waiting for on-dock rail averaged 11.7 days, not far below the peak of 13.4. Street dwell time, measuring how long containers stayed out after leaving the terminal, was 8.5 days, close to the record of 8.8.

A queue offshore

Data from the Marine Exchange of Southern California showed the number of container ships working at berths in the two ports had stayed in a narrow band of about 27 to 31 a day all year. That was the most the land side could handle. Every ship beyond that went to anchor or drifted offshore.

The average wait for a berth in Los Angeles, on a 30-day rolling basis, rose to a record nine days in mid-September. By Sept. 20, the Marine Exchange reported a record 29 container ships in drift areas, and it was letting ships drift beyond its usual 25-mile traffic zone to keep them safely apart.

Fewer imports actually processed

The backup was holding cargo back. The Port of Los Angeles handled 485,672 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of imports in August 2021, down 5.9% from a year earlier. Seroka said 26 ships were at anchor waiting for Los Angeles berths on the last day of August, carrying 205,000 TEUs that would spill into September.

Meanwhile, more vessels kept arriving. Seroka said 11 of the 84 ships his port handled in August were extra loaders outside scheduled services, and at least 10 new services had entered the trans-Pacific trade.

Port response

On Sept. 17, 2021, the two ports announced expanded hours for container pickup to help the chassis and trucking side move more boxes.

What it meant for drayage carriers

For port truckers, the figures meant longer waits, containers and chassis tied up for days, and fewer moves completed per shift.

For carriers further inland, the delays made freight arrival times harder to predict, as cargo bunched up and then released in waves.