The ports of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach continue to postpone their “Container Dwell Fee,” this time until Dec. 27. The fee was previously set to take effect on Monday, Dec. 20, after previous postponements.
Since the fee was announced on Oct. 25, the two ports said they have seen a decline of 46 percent combined in aging cargo on the docks. The executive directors of both ports are expected to reassess fee implementation after another week of monitoring data.
Under the temporary policy approved Oct. 29 by the Harbor Commissions of both ports, ocean carriers can be charged for each import container that falls into one of two categories: In the case of containers scheduled to move by truck, ocean carriers could be charged for every container dwelling nine days or more. For containers moving by rail, ocean carriers could be charged if a container has dwelled for six days or more.
Congestion Excess Dwell Fee assessments at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach had been scheduled to begin Nov. 15 for all containers that have been on dock at least nine days, but the fee was reset to take effect Nov. 22, Nov. 29, Dec. 6, Dec. 13, Dec. 20, and now Dec. 27.
The fee has been set at $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day of excess dwell time beyond the prescribed period. The fee assessed on the ocean carriers is based on the published tariffs set by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
“Before the pandemic-induced import surge began in mid-2020, on average, containers for local delivery remained on container terminals under four days, while containers destined for trains dwelled less than two days,” the port authorities said.
