Truck turn times at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex have increased more than 30 percent since last year, according to statistics provided by the Harbor Trucking Association to JOC.com, a result of crisis-level congestion.
Carriers and terminals have been battling congestion in Los Angeles and Long Beach all year, but conditions worsened in the peak-season months. In August, the average truck visit was 89 minutes, but turn times jumped to 98 minutes in September and new HTA data show waits even longer in October, averaging 101 minutes. Nearly 31 percent of all container moves are taking more than two hours, compared with 23.8 percent in August.
The HTA announced on Oct. 20 that it would explore the possibility of filing a class-action lawsuit against terminal operators in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland because of initiatives taken by the terminals that hurt drayage truckers’ bottom lines. For example, HTA Executive Director Alex Cherin told JOC.com that terminals are no longer taking empty containers, but are charging a per diem when truckers don’t return chassis. Truckers have nowhere to put empties, and therefore can’t return chassis, creating a virtual catch-22 with truckers on the losing end.