LA/LB delay container dwell fee, CMA CGM to incentivise container collection

November 30, 2021: The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach will delay the Container Dwell Fee to December 6 after meetings with U.S. Port Envoy John Porcari, ocean liner companies and marine terminal operators.

"Since the fee was announced on October 25, the twin ports have seen a combined decline of 37 percent in aging cargo on the docks. The executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after another week of monitoring data," an official statement said.

Under the temporary policy approved October 29 by the Harbor Commissions of both ports, ocean carriers can be charged for containers that fall into one of two categories: in the case of containers scheduled to move by truck, ocean carriers could be charged for every container dwelling nine days or more. For containers moving by rail, ocean carriers could be charged if a container has dwelled for six days or more. 

"No date has been set to start the count with respect to container dwell time," the statement added. 

The ports plan to charge ocean carriers in these two categories $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day until the container leaves the terminal.

Containers on the LA port increased to 66,046 at the end of November 29 from 63,276 on November 23. Containers dwelling 5-8 days increased from 9,554 to 15,976 and 13 + days increased from 13,601 to 14,895.

CMA CGM to incentivise container pickups
French carrier CMA CGM Group will implement an Early Container Pickup Incentive Programme at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach w.e.f December 1 that will continue for 90 days.

"The incentive will be provided to the importers that pick up their containers via merchant haulage from all the terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach in the first eight days with the intent that they will use it to offset costs incurred by tensions on their supply chains," an official CMA CGM statement said. 

The incentive will be:

$100 per container for daytime pickup from Monday to Friday; and 

$200 per container at night and on weekends.

 CMA CGM’s commitment could exceed $22 million over 90 days, the statement added.

“The CMA CGM Group is committed to doing everything we can to assist in improving overall supply chain velocity in southern California," said Ed Aldridge, president, CMA CGM and APL North America. "By incentivising the movement of containers off the terminals and ensuring pickups can be made on nights and weekends at FMS, we will decrease truck turn times and expedite the flow of goods into the United States. This is just one more way we are working with our port partners and the Biden-Harris Supply Chain Task Force to ensure shelves are full and Americans have access to the vital items they need on a daily basis.”

Dwell fee to be collected in Seattle terminal
SSA Marine has also announced the introduction of an Extended Dwell Time Fee for Terminals 18, 5 and 30 in Seattle, USA, according to this update from Hapag-Llyod.

"This fee is  effective from December 1, 2021, and is levied on import containers that have exceeded 5 calendar days on the terminal," the Hapag statement added.

The schedule for the fee:

• $50/day for the next five days of storage thereafter (days 1-5 after free time);
• $75/day for the next five days of storage thereafter (days 6-10 after free time); 
• $100/day for the next five days of storage thereafter (days 11-15 after free time); and 
• $150/day thereafter (days 16+ after free time).

Earlier, terminals at the Port of Tacoma, Washington had decided to collect dwell fees from importers.