With historic congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, supply chain stakeholders are seeking to uncover the root causes of the congestion. But the cause of the drowning in the ports of San Pedro Bay is up for debate.
Ports and fleets have been plagued by problems with trailers and containers. Dry truck chassis and trailers are scattered across the country and some are waiting longer than usual to be unloaded and sent back to ports and warehouses. It’s gotten so bad that some carriers charge customer booking fees for extended trailers.
“I’ve never seen this before,” said Brent Hutto, head of relations for Truckstop.com, a load board that posts 1 million load assignments a day.
Trucking experts said the industry can help solve the problem at California ports, but noted that trucking problems are not solely — or even largely — responsible for the problems.
The essence of congestion
The global supply chain has been performing above-average logistics operations for more than a year. It led to much speculation – inside and outside the industry – about the problems and possible solutions.
Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association, said the lack of OTR drivers is something he hears a lot as a solution to port congestion. He took to LinkedIn on October 28 to tell people it is a bogus solution for ports. Adding drivers wouldn’t help at all, he told Transport Dive. In fact, there is no shortage of drivers at the ports, nor are the chassis the main problem for the porters, he said.
Schrap said he sees carriers sending drivers home because they can’t secure appointments to return empty containers to free up the chassis. More drivers would just cause more congestion, given that fact, he said.
“There is no shortage of drivers [at the ports]Schrap said. The national shortage of OTR drivers is a “scapegoat” and “misdirection,” he said.
“Empty containers are the crux of the problem … It’s choking the shipping yards,” Schrap said.
Containers are located at terminals
% of shipments made stay more than five days in San Pedro Bay ports
Schrap said some will say carriers need chassis, but many of them are sitting under empty containers. Chassis are used as storage vehicles in this regard, Schrap said.
“It’s not necessarily about the truck,” Hutto said. “It’s the inefficiency of the yard itself.”
About 65,000 empty containers were sitting on the docks at the Port of Los Angeles last week, said Port Executive Director Gene Seroka. during a media briefing November 16. This leaves some empty space at marine terminals for trucks to return empty containers, until ships can load the empties and take them back across the Pacific.
“It’s productivity,” Schrap said. “I can’t stress that enough.”
RPT 19/11: 159 total inbound LA/LB vessels incl 95 at anchor or roving & 64 at berths. Of the 159, 101 are container ships. 71 at anchor or roving & 30 at anchor. 46 ships wandering; 36 container ships, 4 tankers, 3 bulk, 3 general cargo.
More: pic.twitter.com/Euy1YYh0CX— Marine Exchange (@MXSOCAL) November 19, 2021
Hutto said the port’s shipyards do not have enough employees working, which means cargo is delayed in being unloaded and transferred to trucks or trains. Seroka disputed this claim.
“We have plenty of distant sea to do this work“, Seroka said in October. International Longshore and Warehouse Union workers have been working an average of six days a week since March 2020. In addition, the union has added workers to its ranks in recent months and increased its training programs.
So how can trucking help with port congestion? The solution may be something that trucking can only partially contribute to, as trucking is only one piece of the puzzle.
Freight modes are consulted for solutions
Speaking to the press at the American Trucking Associations Management Conference & Expo in Nashville on October 26, Chris Spear, ATA CEO and President, said that trucking will combine with other modes, such as rail and ocean, and give recommendations on how to alleviate choke points at ports and elsewhere in the supply chain.
“Locally, you can raise, temporarily, the stackability from two containers to four,” Spear said. “This helps free up yard space. If you have yard space, you can move empty and full containers much more efficiently. And they run out of space.”
Long Beach recently allowed stacking of four containers, but Schrap said companies would then have to have machines to stack the containers, another logistical problem.
“If you have yard space, you can move empty and full containers much more efficiently. And they run out of space.”
Chris Spear
President and CEO of the American Trucking Associations
Municipal authorities must do more, Hutto said. The ports are controlled by the city governments of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Cities and the state of California have tried to see where the bottlenecks are.
On Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom touted the progress the ports have made and said he would authorize regulatory relief to speed up the flow of trucks from the two giant ports.
One move is to address labor constraints in the truck driver market by extending hours of operation at select DMVs. That will allow for nearly doubling the number of monthly CDL tests, from 5,000 to 9,700, Newsom said at the Port of Long Beach.
Another is to to ease weight limits to 88,000 pounds, up from 80,000 on state highways and interstates between the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach, and distribution centers in California.
Schrap was doubtful that higher weight limits would help. Many containers arriving at ports are filled to the brim with light retail goods such as shoes. HTA members are not yet flocking to apply for permits with Caltrans to haul heavier loads.
At the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach today we’re talking about how we can mitigate supply chain issues.
Good news — we’ve seen a 32% drop over 2 weeks for docked containers.
Today, CA issues a temporary truck weight exemption on our highways to keep freight moving efficiently.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) November 17, 2021
Shrapp said his association members have taken steps on their own to address the issue of empty containers. Trucking companies leased space outside the ports, even in Arizona, “wherever they could find it,” Schrap said.
But even offsite storage solutions have issues. Schrap said an investigation showed his members have at least 9,438 empty containers, but 8,117 are sitting on top of the chassis. If fleets use a chassis for storage, they cannot use it for unloading.
Schrap said two things he’d like to see are “sweeping vessels,” ocean carriers that do nothing more than carry containers back to Asia. And the association would like to see more official empty container yards — recognized by yard operators, carriers and equipment providers — where no fees are collected.
Hutto said change will not come quickly because government entities, such as large ships, turn around slowly. And Spear said he also isn’t hoping for a short-term miracle until the holidays.
“It’s not going to be resolved until Christmas,” Spear said. “The fact that we work with other ways and decision makers to understand the problem is the fastest way to solve the problem.”