L.A. County Ports Will Keep ‘Container Dwell Fee’ On Hold

SAN PEDRO— On Jan. 13, The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach announced they would delay the consideration of the ‘Container Dwell Fee’ once again, this time until April 29. The program was initially announced on Oct. 29, 2021, and was set to last 90 days. Since then, the two ports have seen a combined decline of 35 percent in mellowing the cargo on the docks. As predicted, the year-end holiday season has slowed the progress of the cargo backlog compared to previous weeks.

The executive directors of both ports will reassess putting the fee into action after monitoring data throughout the week of Jan. 10. Both ports have postponed fee implementation since the start of the program.

Under the provisional policy approved on Oct. 29, 2021, by the Harbor Commissions of both ports, ocean carriers can be charged for each import container that falls into one of two categories. For containers scheduled to move by truck, the ocean carriers could be charged for every container that dwells for nine days or more. For containers transported via rail, ocean carriers could be charged if a container has dwelled for six or more days. No date has been set to start the count concerning container dwell time.

Both ports plan to charge ocean carriers a $100 fee per container under both conditions, increasing in $100 increments per container per day until the container has left the terminal.

Any fees compiled from dwelling cargo will be reinvested into programs designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity, and address congestion impacts.