Posted on 10/20/2021 2:10:21 PM PDT by Mount Athos
There was fleeting hope that Southern California port congestion had turned the corner. The number of container ships waiting offshore dipped to the low 60s and high 50s from a record high of 73 on Sept. 19, trans-Pacific spot rates plateaued, the Biden administration unveiled aspirations for 24/7 port ops, and electricity shortages curbed Chinese factory output.
The reality is that the port congestion crisis in Southern California is not getting any better.
The time ships are stuck waiting offshore continues to lengthen. There are simply too many vessels arriving with too much cargo for terminals, trucks, trains and warehouses to handle.
The number of ships at anchor or in holding patterns is once again nearing record territory. According to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, 70 container ships were waiting off Los Angeles and Long Beach on Monday. There were 67 on Tuesday, not including general cargo ships that are loaded with boxes.
Marine Exchange data shows that ships waiting offshore on Tuesday — including container ships, general cargo vessels and other ships carrying containers — had aggregate capacity of 512,843 twenty-foot equivalent units. To put that in perspective, that is 10% more than the Port of Los Angeles imported during the entire month of September.
Assuming ships are at capacity, how much cargo value is out there in the “floating warehouse”? What’s in each box, and its value, varies dramatically — it can be worth a few thousand dollars or several hundred thousand dollars. But Port of Los Angeles stats provide a good guide.
The total customs value of the Port of Los Angeles’ containerized imports in 2020 was $211.9 billion. Given that imports totaled 4,827,040 TEUs, this equates to an average of $43,899 per import TEU. (Several other sources also estimated average cargo value at around $40,000 per TEU.)
This suggests that the cargo currently waiting off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is worth around $22 billion, roughly the equivalent of the annual revenues of McDonald’s or the GDP of Iceland.
Data from the Signal platform shows that wait time from anchorage to a berth in Los Angeles rose to an all-time high 13 days on Wednesday, up 65% from the beginning of September.
But the average wait time doesn’t tell the full story. Ships have been sitting in San Pedro Bay for more than twice that long.
Most of the vessels that still have no terminal berth assignments despite extended wait times are small ships operated by Chinese players such as BAL Container Line that entered the trans-Pacific market for the first time this year. Some of the ships stuck in the queue have been chartered at exorbitant rates, raising the question of whether charterers accounted for such lengthy delays.
American Shipper was contacted by a U.S. manufacturer who has over 100 containers of goods trapped aboard the Chinese-owned Zhong Gu Jiang Su. The ship has been waiting offshore for over five weeks, since Sept. 13, and has yet to obtain a berth assignment, according to the Marine Exchange master queuing list.
The U.S. manufacturer, who booked through a freight forwarder, spoke on condition of anonymity. “This is really impacting our production,” he said, noting that the trapped goods are “a major component” in his company’s manufacturing process.
“We can’t get any type of help or get any type of escalation from anyone,” he said. He was told that the ship operator “hadn’t negotiated with the terminals for a berth” before arrival, which led to the extended delay.
Among the Chinese-linked ships with no berth assignment stuck in the queue, the Martinique has been waiting the longest, since Sept. 9. Loadstar reported that it is on charter to a company owned by a Chinese logistics provider that is itself partially owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
The BAL Peace has been waiting without a berth assignment since Sept. 25, as has the S Santiago.
Alphaliner previously reported that BAL chartered the S Santiago for around $125,000 a day. An industry source told American Shipper the rate was $135,000 per day. So far, that ship has been waiting — and not loading any more revenue-generating cargo — for 25 days straight.
Send it back to China.
The only supply shortage is Biden’s labor force.
How much of it is perishable I wonder
When just-in-time isn’t.
“There are simply too many vessels arriving with too much cargo for terminals, trucks, trains and warehouses to handle.”
The handled it fine under Trump. Too much red tape now blocking movement. Cut the tape, cut the bottlenecks, cut the heads off the tapers. Somehow, I doubt Butthead and Biden are up to the task.
If all those ships just went to Ensenada, we could get maybe Half of it to the US
Amen.
$22B is that with inflation?
oh no, what are we going to do without all that cheap Chinese crap on Christmas?
The Government to the rescue. They are moving containers around to make it look like they are doing something
Newsom Signs Executive Order to Alleviate Port Congestion
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4005316/posts
Not good.
In his escalator speech from June 2015, President Trump announced his determination to put America first, and the first thing he did was take on China.
Are these ships full of crap from China?
Let them rust, rot, and sink.
“Made In The USA” doesn’t get stuck in port.
This year for Christmas plan early
BOYCOTT CHINA 100%
We can make our own “Reset”
“Use it up... Wear it out... Make it do... Or do without”
NOTHING FROM CHINA FOR CHRISTMAS!
AMERICAN PATRIOTS ARE MAD!
NOTHING FROM CHINA FOR CHRISTMAS!
‘CAUSE CHINA AND BIDEN ARE BAD!
Are you brave enough to make a real stand?
Did you get the Crap From China “Catalogue” from Amazon?
All plastic, no quality, no prices. Sears they ain’t.
*************************************************
LET’S GO BRANDON!
This year make a real effort to not give China one damned copper penny.
Second hand, swap with friends, make it yourself, have an event instead. Go low key, make family, friends, and memories more important.
Cook, bake, be a Secret Santa to a neighbor. Put on a play! Involve everyone. Give music lessons as gifts, buy American.
Make it about fun, not cheap Chinese plastic. Make every ornament for your tree by hand. Shun ANYTHING from China. Stick it up their ass.
Let their ships full of shit rot and sink.
*WE* can ALSO RESET! Do it.
Maybe these goods should be made in the US so they won’t have to be shipped.
Hahaha
Most people do not understand why this is really happening, or that we are at war.
maybe if you read these articles it will give you another piece of the jigsaw puzzle
https://thediplomat.com/2019/05/chinas-global-port-play/
https://www.universalcargo.com/u-s-forces-china-out-of-port-of-long-beach-terminal-ownership/
The longshoreman’s union rules the ports with an iron fist.
Nothing will happen until the union agrees to any changes. Work 24/7? Not unless the union says you can.
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