New Counting Method Suggests US Container Ship Jam Longer Than Ever

The amount of container ships heading to the port complex of San Pedro Bay, the busiest in the United States (US), increased has about 100 under a new counting method, which emphasizes the magnitude of the economic bottleneck that the Biden administration is trying to help alleviate.

Some 96 container ships, versus 86 on November 16, are counted waiting to be able to dock in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach; However, the number appears to decline when a new queuing system took effect and dozens of arriving ships were left outside the official area to be counted, according to an analysis by Marine Exchange Southern California. The revised measure released Friday night includes vessels heading further east in the Pacific, Bloomberg reports.

Just when the bottleneck seemed to be narrowing (the previous official tally was 41 ships in the queue as of Thursday), the latest figures confirm that the most visible symbol of the overwhelmed US supply chains is probably still there. months until it is eliminated. The average wait for the ships was 20.8 days as of Friday, nearly a week more than a month ago, according to the Wabtec Port Optimizer of Los Angeles.

The revised way of counting ships bound for Los Angeles or Long Beach divides them into a couple of categories: 40 ships that are anchored in designated locations plus those that “loiter” within 40 miles of ports , and another 56 outside. of that perimeter, many of which have slowed down on the journey from Asia that generally takes at least two weeks. So the line has been lengthened both in number of boats and in distance.

There is little relief in sight. US importers typically reserve January orders well in advance to replenish inventories before Chinese factories and ports reduce activity during the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins in early February next year.

The White House has turned its attention to working with the logistics industry to move the empty and full containers that have accumulated near port terminals, encouraging more hours for truckers and longshoremen and supporting incentives for the timely collection of goods that they stay for days or weeks.

That effort to reduce so-called container dwell times in Southern California has had mixed results, with the number of containers waiting from zero to eight days falling to 33,520 as of December 2, from 39,671 a week earlier. according to figures from the port of Los Angeles. Still, the number of waiting nine days or more rose to 21,278, from 18,170 a week earlier.