Long Beach start penalising late box pick-ups; 82 containerships wait off Southern California on day LA

Monday sees the start of a new $100 penalty for any container that has spent more than days waiting for pick-up at America’s twin top maritime gateway ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The new state-created fee is one of many measures the White House and American ports have taken in recent months to try and alleviate the extreme container crunch that has put shipping firmly in the mainstream American media this year.

German carrier Hapag-Lloyd made clear that the new charge will be passed on to clients.

“This is a port authority announced and levied charge, which, as a pass-through charge, will be for the account of the merchant,” Hapag-Lloyd stated in a new update to clients.

Today’s introduction of a late fee comes at a time when there are 82 boxships waiting for berths to free up outside America’s top two ports on the west coast.

As of Friday 12 Nov there were 40,700 containers that had been waiting for more than nine days at both ports, an improvement on the 70,600 tardy boxes recorded on November 1.

Port of Tacoma readying late pick up charges

Further north along America’s congested west coast, the port of Tacoma is also readying its own late pick up charges.