The spectre of late dwell charges on containers at the prime US port complex receded yet another week yesterday, as the port authorities of Los Angeles and Long Beach deferred a decision until 27 December.

However, the port of LA raised the spectre of charges for empty boxes clogging up terminals.

Executive director Gene Seroka said last week 60% of empty containers stayed nine days or longer at LA terminals, which has led to a pile-up of nearly 71,000 empties.

“We are imploring liner shipping companies to bring in more and larger sweeper vessels to clear out these empty containers,” he said.

“We will look at alternatives, including levying fees against liner companies for empty containers that dwell excessively on our marine terminals.”

The number of empty containers at the ports has climbed steadily, clogging up facilities. At the end of November it was 11% higher than 12 months earlier.

The ports are also struggling with a shortage of chassis, brought about by street dwell times as high as 10 days. They have operated on a basis of 3.5 days of chassis dwell time at off-port locations. For every extra day, another 3,500 units are needed, which means currently the ports are dealing with a shortage of more than 25,000 chassis.

The ports had formulated a policy, first revealed on 25 October, that called for charges on container lines for every rail box that stayed more than six days at terminals, or boxes scheduled to be picked by truck staying longer than nine days. The tariff would start at $100 per container and increase in $100 increments for every additional day at the terminals.

According to the port authorities, the threat significantly reduced the number of long-dwelling boxes at LA and LB, registering a combined drop of 46% in containers since the planned fees were announced. In light of these improvements, they have kept postponing implementation.

Dwell times for rail containers have improved significantly, from a high of 13 days in the summer to an average of two days. However, other metrics look less favourable. Some terminal operators have reported less-impressive improvements in box dwell times on their premises than the numbers for the port complex. By their estimates, the reduction of long-dwelling containers has been in single digits.

Up the coast, the largest box terminal at the port of Oakland has levied ‘excessive dwell charges’ on containers since 1 December. The Oakland International Container Terminal, which handles about 70% of the port’s box traffic, charges cargo owners for containers that stay more than seven days. The daily fee starts at $50 on day eight, rises to $75 on day 13, on to $100 on day 18 and on day 23 it climbs to the top level of $150 a day.