Truckers Tired Of Taking Blame For Congestion Crisis At California Ports
Clarissa Hawes
As Miguel Silva surveyed his truck yard just outside the Port of Oakland last week, he pointed to shipping containers filled with corn and soybean seed bound for impoverished nations in Africa and elsewhere around the globe.
Silva said his customers’ genetically modified seed, which can’t be reused because it’s engineered in a lab, should have been loaded on a cargo ship weeks ago to arrive in time for the planting season.
However, appointment times can be scarce. The terminal operators’ push toward automation, which Silva and other trucking company owners say isn’t always reliable, requires drivers to check for appointment times day and night and on weekends to see if more time slots open up.
“I have customers calling me daily, telling me to name my price, that money is no object, but to please, just pull their containers,” Silva, president of Intermodal Logistics at the Port of Oakland, told FreightWaves. “I wish it was that simple.”
Silva and other trucking companies dispute the widely reported message that a driver shortage is largely to blame for the port congestion issues in California.
During a five-day trip to the major ports in California, FreightWaves interviewed multiple company executives who said they were actually shedding drivers because of the lack of consistent work due to port congestion bottlenecks, equipment and efficiency issues.
Port truckers told FreightWaves on Monday that the Oakland International Container Terminal (OICT) website had been down since the previous day, so trucking companies weren’t able to obtain the vessel export receiving list. OICT, the port’s largest stevedoring terminal, is owned by SSA International.
John Gallagher
The trucking industry is desperate to get drivers into seats at a time when the supply chain needs them most, but a variety of factors is stalling the industry’s ability to gain traction.
Chief among those factors is the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. Since January 2020 when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration began recording substance abuse violations in the clearinghouse database, over 91,000 drivers have been taken off the road for testing positive or refusing to take a test. That number is expected to hit 100,000 before the end of the year.
Karen Goodpaster, manager at St. Louis-based Apollo Express, said that to the extent the side effects of the clearinghouse could potentially prolong the recovery of the supply chain crisis, “that would be a negative,” she told FreightWaves. “But there’s a lot of other things that are having a negative effect as well. Parts to fix trucks are in short supply, which means trucks have to be parked.” She also said drivers are moving from over-the-road to local delivery due to changing purchasing patterns by shippers and consumers.
Lori Ann LaRocco
The penalties on 58,900 containers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are officially racking up charges. These containers were part of the 60,000 containers the ports alerted the ocean carriers last Monday to move or face a daily $100 penalty per container, increasing in $100 increments per day.
American Shipper reached out to both ports for updates on the removal of the “lingering” containers.
According to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, there are a total of 84,000 total imports on docks waiting to be transported, a total that is 3,000 higher than a week ago. Of those 84,000, a whopping 40,000 of those containers have been at the Port of LA for nine-plus days, which is considered lingering. Containers are considered long-dwelling if the boxes are waiting over nine days for truck, six days for rail.
“This is the wrong direction,” said Seroka.
The Port of Long Beach saw 10% of its 27,000 lingering containers move out since last Wednesday. The port has approximately 18,900 containers being charged penalties.
“This is a sign that the surcharge is having its intended effect, but clearly there is more work to do,” said Noel Hacegaba, COO of the Port of Long Beach.
“The ocean carriers are stepping up and coordinating with the shippers, terminals, railroads and motor carriers to look for the fastest way to push inbound containers out of the terminals.”
The 58,900 late containers at these ports represent a much-needed economic injection for the U.S. economy — a handsome $2,585,651,100 in trade, based on a per-import twenty-foot equivalent unit value of $43,899 (the average of containerized import TEUs at the Port of Los Angeles in 2020).
The Harbor Trucking Association tells American Shipper it continues to face the same issues with the terminals.
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