San Francisco anchorages are filling up.
Like Mary and Joseph, containerships coming to San Francisco Bay could face difficulties finding a place to spend Christmas.
The Port of Oakland says it is facing unprecedented traffic, and the Coast Guard said it is running out of space to anchor large containerships in San Francisco Bay.
There were 18 ships at anchor off the port in Anchorage 9 in South San Francisco Bay Monday morning, including 11 containerships, said Captain Greg Stump, captain of the port for Coast Guard Sector San Francisco.
The anchorage theoretically has space for 24 ships arrayed in three columns and eight rows, but he noted that ultra large containerships need at least two of those spaces and only 10 of the 24 spots can accommodate ships that draft more than 40 feet of water.
“It’s a very unusual situation,” said Stump, who said the number of ships at anchorage has been climbing over the past week. In a Marine Safety and Security Information Bulletin issued last week, Stump wrote, “In the event that suitable anchorage space is not available, owners, agents and crews should be prepared to make alternate mooring arrangements or expect that the vessel will need to remain at sea until safe anchorage space becomes available within the designated San Francisco Bay anchorages.”
He said there are some other temporary anchorages for shallower draft ships elsewhere in the bay, but he explained ships cannot be anchored just anywhere because of damage they might do to the ocean floor.
He issued the bulletin last week so that shipowners can alter itineraries, if they want, or be aware that their ships might have to cut circles in the ocean before entering the bay.
Monday morning, ship traffic in San Francisco was also facing delays due to heavy fog.
More ships are at anchorage outside the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma.
John Veentjerm, executive director of the Puget Sound Marine Exchange, said the ports have been seeing more containerships at anchorage since mid-November. He said there were five containerships at anchorage on Monday morning, down from seven on Sunday.
He said in the past, it was rare to have more than one or two containerships waiting for a berth.
Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, said there were three containerships at anchor outside the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach on Monday morning, down from six on Sunday.
The Port of Oakland said it is taking added measures to “help address unprecedented vessel traffic.” It said, “Containerships are arriving with unprecedented frequency in San Francisco Bay” and that “the number of ships in the Bay outstrips anything seen in the past decade.”
One of the port’s largest marine terminals opened a Sunday gate to discharge additional import cargo, Oakland said. It added it is sending operational status updates to hundreds of harbor truckers, ocean carriers and shippers to improve supply chain planning.
“The added features are expected to improve cargo flow slowed by increased container volume and a multitude of delayed vessels arriving simultaneously,” it said. “In the last three days alone, 13 ships called in Oakland — most well behind schedule.”
Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll said, “We welcome increased cargo volume at Oakland, and we’ve got to do a better job of managing the flow. We’re working every day with the marine terminals, truck drivers and shippers to pick up the pace.”
In a statement, the port said, “Import cargo volume has increased at Oakland in each of the last three months compared to 2013 totals. The gains resulted from aggressive marketing as well as congestion at other ports, which caused cargo diversions to Oakland.”
The port said it has capacity to accept additional containers, but that operations have been hampered by off-schedule ships and recent labor-management disputes on the docks.
“The result has been a slowdown in cargo movement and long lines of trucks waiting to enter terminals,” the Port of Oakland said.
“The port has responded with extended hours, night gates and dedicated lanes in terminals to expedite simple transactions. It’s meeting regularly with harbor truckers to address their issues in hauling cargo. The daily status update launched today will provide the latest information on vessel arrivals, terminal operations and truck queues outside terminal gates.”
The Port of Oakland said terminal operators plan to continue occasional night and weekend gates until cargo flows normalize.
“Cargo volume is expected to moderate soon now that the peak holiday shipping season has passed,” it added.
No room at the inn?
