The Port of Los Angeles is teaming up with terminal operators and a harbor drayage company to launch a container free-flow operation aimed at reducing congestion at the largest U.S. port while deliverinhttps://longshoreshippingnews.com/2015/03/free-flow-container-operation-launched-in-port-of-los-angeles/g import loads to retailers and other large shippers quickly and efficiently.
“I am confident we will see this business model expand,” said Jeff Bergen, senior vice president of Pasha Stevedoring and Terminals. The model can be expanded to include other terminal operators in the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, and to other ports as well. Pasha began operations on Wednesday at a 16-acre site located within a mile of the port.
Here is how free-flow works. Drayage firm TTSI serves a core group of beneficial cargo owners that generate a critical mass of imports each week. Four marine terminals that handle imports from those BCOs — APL, APMT, Yusen Terminals and West Basin Container Terminal — discharge those BCOs’ imports from the vessels and stack them in a block. TTSI truckers “peel off” the containers from the block and take them to the Pasha yard. Either TTSI or other truckers take the loaded containers to the BCOs’ distribution centers in the region. The drivers then pick up empty containers at the DCs and return them to the harbor.
