Container ships waiting off LA/LB drop to lowest in two years

The number of container ships waiting to be berthed outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has dropped to its lowest level since the consumer shopping spree in the early days of the pandemic. Only eight container ships were waiting in line outside the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach on Monday, according to the Port of Los Angeles' official website. "The last day we have eight container ships waiting around Los Angeles/Long Beach is November 15, 2020," said Kip Louttt, executive director of the Southern California Maritime Exchange.

The norm before the COVID was that there were no ships or at most one waiting to be berthed. In October 2020, the number of queues began to climb for the first time, and on January 9 this year, the number of ships outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reached an all-time high of 109. This time last year, there were 48 container ships waiting at sea, almost six times as many. According to the latest data from the Los Angeles official website, as of yesterday, a total of nine ships were waiting to berth outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

While conditions on the Southern California coast are approaching pre-coronavirus normal, that is not the case at the marina. The landside situation has improved compared to the peak period, but remains tense. The congestion bottleneck at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach is one of the most enduring symbols of the pandemic-induced supply-demand imbalance, with a backlog of cargo forcing ships to wait two weeks or more and driving record-high ocean freight rates.

Reduced vessel queues at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, partly due to slowing import demand and overstocking by U.S. companies, and partly due to a shift in traffic to East Coast and Gulf Coast ports The number of queues keeps increasing. As of Tuesday morning, there were 84 container ships waiting to berth, with 41 in the Port of Savannah, 24 in the Port of Houston and 19 in the Port of New York-New Jersey.

In addition, shippers are paying more for shipments that take longer than scheduled due to the increased backlog of ships in ports. In the past two months, the decline in spot freight rates from China to the west of the United States has been higher than that of the spot freight rate to the east of the United States. It is reported that earlier this month, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Los Angeles Port Authority, said: "Cargo owners who want to re-plan their routes, come to Los Angeles, and we are ready to help."

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