General

In order to solve the port congestion, Biden made a big move: fine! It is reported that on Friday, local time in the United States, the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach Port Committees unanimously approved a plan to charge carriers for container excess detention fees (Container Excess Dwell Fee), which will take effect on Monday.

Charging standard: Under the 90-day policy, for containers that are planned to be transported locally by truck, they will be charged starting from the 9th day of their stay at the port (note: the card delivery stays for free for 8 days, and the rail transit stays for free for 5 days!) , The first day overdue is charged 100 US dollars per box, the second day 200 US dollars, and so on; for containers planned to be transported by rail, the fee starts from the 6th day (the previous notice starts from the 3rd day), and the charging method is the same as above .

According to this charging method, on the 5th day after the expiry date, the charge per container will be US$1,500, and by the 30th day, the fee per container will be as high as US$46,500. If 90 days is calculated according to the formula Sn=a1*n+[n*(n-1)*d]/2, it is 100*90+90*89*100/2=409500 USD!

The port will start calculating the time the container stays at the terminal from November 1, but the port will not start assessing fines until at least November 15. The port leaders stated that they have the right to postpone the collection of fees if they see the progress of container shipments from the terminal in the next two weeks. The new fee is expected to be charged for 90 days, which is also the current expectation of the United States, and significant improvements must be seen within 90 days!

Jaime Lee, chairman of the Los Angeles Port Commission, said in a statement: "Our goal is not to generate revenue." "On the contrary, we need our supply chain partners to make operational changes to reduce stay time and clean up our terminals. To make room for ships waiting to enter our port." Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said that if enough progress is made in resolving the backlog of cargo, the port may postpone the charge.

However, the Trans-Pacific shipping company, which is the largest trade route to and from the United States, soon made it clear that they will not bear the new costs, but will pass on the costs to product retailers who own tens of thousands of containers at the 12 marine terminals in LA-LB. .

"From Monday, we will take a daily snapshot of the time that imported containers stay on our terminal." The person in charge of the port said, "I have the right to postpone the start of the charges to November if the terminal cleanup work progresses. After the 15th. Our goal is to see a significant improvement in the terminal’s conditions so that we don’t need to impose any charges."

Seroka revealed that the 9-day backlog of cargo on the terminal accounted for 47% of all containers in the port. In terms of actual value, this means that 38,000 of the 81,000 containers stacked on the terminal have been backlogged for 9 days. Before the surge in imports triggered by the epidemic last year, the average stay time of locally shipped containers at the terminal was less than 4 days, while the stay time of containers transported by train was less than 2 days.

Port officials stated that the threat of severe fines has prompted carriers and other stakeholders to engage in more serious dialogue with the port on how to resolve current and long-term inefficiencies.

Mario Cordero, Executive Director of Long Beach, said: "This action is not to pass on costs. This action is to convey a message to the carrier that you need to participate and you need to solve our current situation. I have already conducted it with the carrier. Very constructive dialogue."

"Needless to say, no one will be happy when the decision we submit to the committee is made. It is painful for everyone, truck drivers, port authorities, consumers. But we need to address and alleviate this situation, We need to transport containers out of the terminal to solve the problem of imported containers, so that we can reduce the large number of ships waiting to be berthed outside the port. At this time next year, I hope that there will be no backlog of ships outside the port."

Seroka echoed these comments and stated that the surcharge is intended to stimulate self-reform within the shipping industry.

"I definitely don't want to pass this amendment to generate revenue for the Port of Los Angeles. The purpose of this amendment is to promote a change in behavior, to move goods out of the terminal, so that empty containers and export goods can be transported. I hope this plan will fail completely. , Because if we don’t collect money, it means that the goods are moving.” He said.

In addition, all fees collected from stranded goods will be reinvested in projects aimed at improving efficiency, speeding up the flow of goods, and solving the effects of congestion.