From: David Hickmott [DHickmott@uli-atl.com]
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 11:40 AM
To: David Hickmott
Cc: David Hickmott; David Hickmott
Subject: Meeting set for SoCal Truck congestion
Dear Valued Unique Customer,
The port congestion in the Los Angeles/Long Beach port is a growing concern for the market. With import volumes increasing in the past 6 months, it is taking much longer for the local trucker to gate-in and gate-out the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach for local deliveries. The situation is not likely to improve quickly. Thus, we would continue to stress to all customers to expect delays for local west coast deliveries. It is very unlikely to achieve “same day” delivery for cargo discharged.
Thank you for
your support of Unique Logistics International. We appreciate and value
your business.
Discover the
"Unique" difference of logistics from Asia to USA trade!
Are
you Ready? ISF Enforcement will begin on January 26, 2010.
Best Regards
David Hickmott - Executive Vice President
ph#404-767-0500 (ext 306)
Mobile# 678-478-6604
Fax# 404-767-3319
Meeting set for SoCal truck congestion
|
|
Marine terminal operators in the ports of Long
Beach and Los Angeles plan to meet next week with port officials, importers,
exporters and trucking companies to find a resolution for truck congestion
issues outside terminal gates.
The working group, to be organized by the same group that
administers the ports’ PierPass program, is being convened as truck congestion
threatens to become a growing problem in the nation’s busiest container
complex.
Bruce Wargo, PierPass president, told American Shipper
that trucks have been bunching up outside terminal gates at three points in the
day -- at 7 a.m., 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. The worst bunching occurring at 6 p.m. as
truckers try to avoid the PierPass fee, which is assessed on containers moving
during daytime, weekday hours.
|
|
|
Wargo |
The morning rush appears to be a result of
truckers trying to get an early start to their day as morning longshore shifts
begin, while the 1 p.m. bunching likely occurs as truckers queue after lunch.
Whatever the reasons, the bunching is sufficiently troublesome
that a meeting to work on solutions has become necessary. Wargo said the
meeting is planned for July 29.
“The important expectation of the meeting is to get parties to
agree on what the issue really is,” Wargo said. “There’s a fundamental
disconnect about what the problem is. The general opinion is that the terminals
should hire more people and work faster. The problem with that is there are
huge gaps where there are no trucks there."
Wargo compared it to a Starbucks being asked to hire extra people
for the morning pre-office rush, then having no one to serve coffee to for a
few hours.
“If you were to look at the terminals at 7 a.m. there would be a
lot of trucks in line, but if you came back at 8:30 a.m. there would be hardly
any trucks and at 9 a.m. you’d zoom through,” Wargo said. “Time and overhead
management is the issue for the terminal operators. But it’s important to
understand the other perspectives.”
The congestion affects various terminals in different ways --
particularly given that some terminals’ gates are located on main roads while
others empty into access roads with more space for lines of trucks.
Potential solutions like appointment systems -- where trucks are
given specific time slots to enter the terminals -- will likely be mooted at
the meeting. Currently, only three of the 13 terminals (the Hanjin-affiliated
Total Terminals International in Long Beach, and the Yang Ming-affiliated West
Basin Container Terminal and Evergreen-affiliated STS terminal in Los Angeles)
in the two ports require truckers to make appointments.
Adding fuel to the fire is that an overhaul of the truck fleet in
Southern California -- with truckers getting cleaner, newer, but more expensive
trucks -- means that truckers must work more to pay off more expensive assets.
“The increasing cost of the trucks is a new factor in the
congestion,” Wargo said. “The trucking industry has upgraded their fleet, and
that has put economic pressure to keep trucks moving. The issue is the higher
cost of the trucks. Those older trucks were paid with cash, so there was no
asset to amortize. It’s a very different environment now.”
The average price of trucks has reportedly gone from $12,000 to
$100,000, meaning larger payments and a need for truckers to maximize their
time.
Wargo added that terminal operators see the congestion getting
worse when volumes rise further. The terminals were turning 35,000 trucks daily
during the 2007 peak, and that number nearly halved, to 19,000 turns, during
the 2009 low. The ports are back up to 25,000 turns daily.
“The volumes are coming back,” Wargo said. “The terminals are
taking the issue seriously because they don’t want to stumble when the cargo
comes back and we’ll be busier.”