With low post-Lunar New Year volumes resulting in skipped sailings on transpacific services, some terminals at the Southern California seaports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are closing during daytime hours.
Some of the container terminals in the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach shut down their truck gates for several hours on Monday and will do so other days this week.
“It’s our understanding that some terminals are closing their terminals for some shifts this week due to post-Lunar New Year low volumes,” said Phillip Sanfield, a spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles.
Eric Bradley, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach, said, “Some terminals run reduced working hours this week because of reduced sailings connected to the annual Lunar New Year holiday. Each terminal has its own schedule, and there is no standard. It’s recommended that customers check with their terminal service providers directly about cargo.”
The terminals are apparently planning to keep normal “off-peak” hours on the second shift (6 p.m.-3 a.m.) or on Saturday (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) that are partially funded with the money they receive from PierPass congestion mitigation fees. But some are planning to close during the day shift on some days.
While there does not appear to be a central source at either of the two ports for information on which terminals will be open at a given time this week, according to the websites of the individual terminals:
• APM Terminals’ Pier 400 facility in Los Angeles was scheduled to be closed during the first shift on March 19, March 20 and March 22, and open during the second shift;
• Yusen Terminals was closed for the first shift Monday and will be again on Tuesday;
• Everport Terminal Services was open Monday for empty receiving only and will be closed on Tuesday;
• TraPac was closed during the first shift on Monday;
• And TTI in Long Beach was scheduled to be closed March 19-21, as well as Monday night because of a power outage.
Ed DeNike, president of SSA Marine, said his company’s terminals in Long Beach were open Monday.
Don Pisano, president of American Coffee Corp. and a member of the board of directors of the National Industrial Transportation League, expressed frustration with the cutback in hours, saying it “clearly inhibits the ability of beneficial cargo owners to move containers off terminals in a timely and efficient manner.”
“This is ridiculous,” he said. “Our trucker and warehouse work on normal daytime schedules. The warehouse we use operates from 6:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. We can’t have them waiting until 7:00 p.m. at best, 8:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. to receive containers.
“As you know, the drivers are limited in their hours of service,” he added. “While we will not incur the TMF fee during late hours, the draymen will have to alter some of their drivers regular work to pull the containers at night at a higher pay rate.
“They will also have to bring the containers to the trucker’s yard for overnight storage before delivering them to the warehouse the next morning for unloading. We will therefore be charged for the additional move required and overnight yard storage,” Pisano explained. “Our trucker has limited yard space and likely will not able to hold all the containers that would be required in a secured environment. What they are unable to handle at night either due to available drivers or yard space capacity, we may run into demurrage charges or detention charges when trying to return the empties.”
“Any containers we are not able to pick up at night, we will have to request for extensions in our free time but have no idea whether that will be granted or not,” he added.
Some LA/Long Beach terminals cut hours
