While there is a sense of relief sweeping over the United States supply chain and, by extension, the economy, following a tentative agreement struck late yesterday by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), port operations will not immediately return to normal. However, the situation did not fully escalate to the levels that many industry stakeholders had cautiously expected.
With the strike lasting only the better part of three days, current levels of port congestion, vessels at anchor, and increasing dwell times resulting from the brief strike need to be addressed. This is especially important considering that one week of port disruption typically leads to at least one month of delays, which increase as cargo moves inland.
That was the word from Mia Ginter, director of North American ocean shipping at C.H. Robinson.
Ginter explained that the U.S. West Coast, the Canada gateway, and non-ILA ports—all popular contingency routes—are experiencing congestion. Dwell times at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have been as long as 30 days for some vessels. She added that rail transport from the West Coast is also facing delays of more than two weeks in some cases.
“Since rail typically takes longer to recover from disruptions, delays are expected to continue for months from high-volume ports,” she told LM.
Ginter also observed that several vessels are at anchor or waiting to berth in the East and Gulf coasts.
“Vessel bunching and port congestion are expected at these ports, as there is an immediate backlog of vessels looking to dock,” she said. “This volume is in addition to the containers that couldn’t move out of the port prior to the strike. Recovering and collecting containers that had to be dropped at different port locations may further tie up vessels and increase pressure on available inland transportation and equipment.”