Users decry PierPASS Saturday hours end
Shippers and trucking companies are voicing their upset over a decision by terminal operators in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to end Saturday hours.
Terminal operators have said that they will no longer be open on Saturday after Jan. 10.
“People are very upset about this,” says Robin Lanier, executive director of the Waterfront Coalition, an advocacy group for port users. She said her group’s board of directors is planning on holding a conference call to discuss the issue today. She said there has also been discussions about eliminating some night shifts or “gates” as they are commonly referred to in the industry.
| Lanier |
Under the PierPASS program in Southern California a $50-per-TEU fee is collected on shipments moving through terminal gates during day shifts to help subsidize night shifts from Monday through Thursday and during the day on Saturday at terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach. In a normal business environment that provides about $125 million to $140 million which is divvied up among terminal operators.
“Because of the serious downturn in the amount of container traffic here in Southern California, there is a serious need to revisit the need for that kind of schedule and the terminal operators decided it would be most cost efficient to eliminate the Saturday gate,” said Bruce Wargo, PierPASS president and chief executive officer.
He agreed that trucking companies, warehouses and shippers have become “solid advocates of the extra gates. It has become a big part of everyone’s operating scheme and this is probably very disruptive to that.” He said he has been encouraging feedback and sharing it with terminal operators.
But he noted traffic is off sharply, with about 9,000 to 10,000 containers moving through the ports on a typical Saturday, down from about 14,000 or 15,000.
Lanier said, “At a time when the ports and the State of California is pursuing green trucks and is deeply concerned about the clear trend of cargo being moved away from the Ports of L.A. and Long Beach diverting cargo elsewhere because of expenses, the elimination of the Saturday is going to result in a fairly substantial increase in cost for the very largest cargo owners.
“If they don’t have a Saturday gate, they are going to have to shift some traffic to day gates and they are going to have to pay the fee. There is no way they can move everything they are bringing in on what will remain of the night gates.”
“It effects all of us deeply. It says the port is going to be closed for three straight days,” said Robert Curry, president of Cal Cartage a local draymen, who said with no evening hours on Friday “it’s like the banks being closed for three straight days. They are never closed three days.” Terminal operators give shippers five full days of free time at terminals; with the port closed all weekend, he said it may be difficult for some to get their cargo off the terminals without incurring demurrage charges.
“I expect we are going to have huge congestion and we are not going to be able to get cargo to customers,” Curry said. He said the problem is compounded by the fact that ship arrivals are not evenly spread during the week, and many ships arrive in Los Angeles and Long Beach on Friday and Saturday.
Lanier said for some shippers the elimination of Saturday hours will “pose some significant supply chain issues. There are a lot of companies who use the Saturday gate for positioning domestic deliveries to their customers, trying to meet an in store date which is usually midweek.”
Lanier noted that a number of motor carriers that have invested heavily on “green trucks” that use liquefied natural gas or clean diesel technology. “These green trucking companies can’t make the numbers work if they cant run the trucks two shifts,” she said.
Lanier also said that the Saturday is among the most productive of all days for truckers to work, with some drivers able to make three turns in a day.
“For all the moaning and groaning about the poor independent truck driver, taking away the Saturday gate really crimps their ability to make money,” she said. “People are really steamed at the terminal operators.” ' Chris Dupin