THE congestion at the main us west coast gateway complex over the past couple of months, has eased and vessel turn times improved, but importers and logistics companies are in for more grief in the coming months, reports London's The Loadstar.
Executives of Seko Logistics predict a surge in traffic that will put renewed strain on the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as the rail and truck networks beyond them.
For ten consecutive months, the port complex has handled record or near-record volumes of imports: in May, LA processed 1,012,048 TEU, the first time a port in the western hemisphere handled more than a million TEU in a month.
Despite this relentless flood of imports, turn times at the docks and truck gates at LA/LB have improved from their levels in January, but the respite will likely be shortlived.
The port of LA announced two weeks ago it had received notice from Chinese carriers BAL Container Line and China United Container Line that they intended to bring services to the port this summer. And HMM has signalled plans to boost its transpacific sailings.
Craig Grossgart, svp global ocean of Seko, anticipates a continued wave of cargo heading to the west coast in the coming months. Back-to-school traffic will be heavy, as children and teenagers did not get new clothes last year due to the lockdown, he pointed out.
Moreover, the US economy has been going at full throttle. The OECD predicts 6.9 per cent GDP growth in the US for this year - the fastest pace since 1984.
According to Mr Grossgart, the situation is very much in flux.
'It's kind of going to be a rolling blackout over the course of the next months, where certain ramps are going to be shut down from an IPI perspective, and certain ramps will place moratoriums on any more inbound containers,' he said.
While it is hard to predict where and when these occur, Chicago and Dallas were always going to be problematic, he added. At Chicago, the number of grounded containers had kept growing. Customers cannot access them but are still charged storage fees, he noted.
'This congestion is coming at a cost to everyone,' he said.
And, as more cargo pours in from Asia, the situation will deteriorate further, he predicted. 'It's going to get worse before it gets better.'
SeaNews Turkey
Executives of Seko Logistics predict a surge in traffic that will put renewed strain on the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as the rail and truck networks beyond them.
For ten consecutive months, the port complex has handled record or near-record volumes of imports: in May, LA processed 1,012,048 TEU, the first time a port in the western hemisphere handled more than a million TEU in a month.
Despite this relentless flood of imports, turn times at the docks and truck gates at LA/LB have improved from their levels in January, but the respite will likely be shortlived.
The port of LA announced two weeks ago it had received notice from Chinese carriers BAL Container Line and China United Container Line that they intended to bring services to the port this summer. And HMM has signalled plans to boost its transpacific sailings.
Craig Grossgart, svp global ocean of Seko, anticipates a continued wave of cargo heading to the west coast in the coming months. Back-to-school traffic will be heavy, as children and teenagers did not get new clothes last year due to the lockdown, he pointed out.
Moreover, the US economy has been going at full throttle. The OECD predicts 6.9 per cent GDP growth in the US for this year - the fastest pace since 1984.
According to Mr Grossgart, the situation is very much in flux.
'It's kind of going to be a rolling blackout over the course of the next months, where certain ramps are going to be shut down from an IPI perspective, and certain ramps will place moratoriums on any more inbound containers,' he said.
While it is hard to predict where and when these occur, Chicago and Dallas were always going to be problematic, he added. At Chicago, the number of grounded containers had kept growing. Customers cannot access them but are still charged storage fees, he noted.
'This congestion is coming at a cost to everyone,' he said.
And, as more cargo pours in from Asia, the situation will deteriorate further, he predicted. 'It's going to get worse before it gets better.'
SeaNews Turkey