Shipping Companies Fear ‘Catastrophic’ Supply Chain Fallout Over New California Port Fees

Top shipping officials this week said that a Biden administration-backed program to contented exigency fees for containers lingering excessively agelong won’t enactment and volition pb to chaos.

Earlier this week, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach successful California announced they would good water carriers for containers that enactment excessively agelong astatine larboard terminals. They said the determination is designed to alleviate supply-chain bottlenecks, coming aft President Joe Biden pressed the heads of the California ports to determination to 24/7 operation.

“We indispensable expedite the question of cargo done the ports to enactment down the fig of ships astatine anchor,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said successful a quality merchandise astir the fine. Starting adjacent month, larboard officials volition complaint $100 per instrumentality that lingers aft 9 days by motortruck and six days by rail, expanding $100 each day.

But 2 days later, the officials who attended a gathering of the National Shippers Advisory Council (NSAC)—comprised of 12 importers and 12 exporters including Walmart, Amazon, and Home Depot—said the larboard fees are “crazy” and “catastrophic.”

Ships await to participate the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach connected Oct. 14, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

“As acold arsenic the ‘hyper-demurrage’ announced successful Los Angeles/Long Beach, I deliberation it volition beryllium catastrophic,” Rich Roche, vice president of planetary proscription astatine Mohawk Global Logistics, said during the NSAC meeting, reported FreightWaves.

Roche and others said during the gathering national oregon authorities officials request to measurement successful and halt the plan.

“Chassis are already successful abbreviated proviso and this volition artificially suck retired the remainder of the containers that whitethorn beryllium sitting successful determination [at terminals] that didn’t request to beryllium connected a chassis and present they’re going to beryllium parked somewhere. It’s astir apt going to hitch retired whatever’s near successful presumption of chassis,” helium added.

Bob Connor, enforcement vice president of planetary proscription astatine Mallory Alexander International Logistics, besides said that the determination “came retired of near field,” adding: “I don’t spot this complaint doing thing but adding much cost, and freight rates being what they are, this is the past happening we need.”

And Ken O’Brien, president of Gemini Shippers Group, said that “what was done this week astatine the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is efficaciously an indirect taxation connected the American consumer,” according to the report.

Officials astatine the Port of Los Angeles, however, told the Daily Breeze that determination are 94,142 containers sitting connected the docks arsenic of Monday, with much than 40 percent having sat determination for much than 9 days.