Los Angeles congestion eases
CONGESTION at Los Angeles/Long Beach has eased slightly, with 62 ships in port this morning. That includes 28 ships at anchor, more than half of them container ships. Congestion peaked on Saturday night, when 76 ships were in port, with 33 at anchor. That represented a new high for the ports since late June, when the current congestion problem first began. More container ships are having to go to anchor now, for at least a day, and many ships are required to sit idle at their berths for four shifts (48+ hours) before their allocation number comes up, and labour can be assigned. Hence, the overall turnaround time for some of the ships in port is now running at seven or eight days - about twice the normal range of 3 to 4 days. Adding to the problem of congestion, more ships are scheduled to arrive than depart over the next several days. In addition, today’s Labour Day holiday will see ships backing up because there is no labour to handle their cargoes.
Source - Lloyd’s Register - Fairplay web links