Long Beach container imports rebound in January as terminal congestion eases

The Port of Long Beach, California, posted its best-ever container throughput for the month of January following efforts to remove lingering cargoes taking up space in terminals, the port said Feb. 10.

Total volumes handled in January were 800,943 twenty-foot equivalent units, up 4.8% from the same month last year. Loaded imports increased 6.9% year on year to 389,334 TEUs, reversing the trend of declining import volumes from the previous two months.

"We have all heard so much about the supply chain backlog, but what is actually happening is that our dockworkers are moving more cargo than ever — and doing so during a pandemic," Long Beach Harbor Commission President Steven Neal said.

Loaded container exports from Long Beach rose 5.9% year on year in January to 123,060 TEUs, outpacing the growth in empty container exports of 2.2% over the same period to 276,058 TEUs.

In conjunction with the adjacent Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach announced a program in late October to charge a "container dwell fee" for cargoes that remain in terminals past a set number of days. The two ports have seen a 68% decline in lingering cargoes on the docks since the program was announced, despite deferring the fees week by week ever since the Port of Long Beach said.

The queue of ships waiting to berth at Los Angeles and Long Beach rose to a record of 109 ships on Jan. 9 but has since declined to 78 ships Feb. 9, including just four ships at anchor in the San Pedro Bay while the rest were slow steaming towards the port complex or otherwise drifting further out at sea, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.

Port congestion was particularly severe on the West Coast of North America in the second half of 2021, compelling many shippers to divert their cargoes to the East Coast. The Port of Savannah, Georgia, had its best January container volume on record with 479,700 TEUs and has set monthly records for 18 months in a row.

Total container throughput at Savannah increased 20% in 2021 to a calendar year record of 5.6 million TEUs. The port has plans to expand capacity by another 25% or 1.6 million TEUs by June, the Georgia Ports Authority said.

To ease the flow of import cargoes out of port terminals to inland destinations, the Port of Savannah has employed five pop-up container yards throughout the Southeast US, including a 330-acre intermodal rail and truck hub in Rocky Mount, North Carolina operated by railway provider CSX.

"The success of our inland pop-up yards has provided an excellent relief valve and reduced the number of containers at the Port of Savannah," Georgia Ports Authority Board Chairman Joel Wooten said.

Container freight rates from North Asia to the East and West Coast of North America were assessed by Platts at all-time high levels of $10,950/FEU and $9,500/FEU Feb. 10, up by 107% and 126%, respectively, from the same date last year.