News
Some 36 containerships were forced to stay at anchor off the coast in San Pedro Bay on the U.S. West Coast as of Feb. 4, according to Ocean Network Express Japan (ONE Japan). In some cases, they have to wait as many as 10 days to enter the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to discharge their containers. To avoid congestions, some carriers have begun skipping the twin ports.
To keep novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections from spreading any further, the number of workers has been reduced. It is also advised to keep social distances from other people. Such efforts have led to lowering productivity. In addition, the shortage of truck drivers has slowed down the delivering of imported shipments out of terminals. As such, the situation is getting worse and worse, ONE Japan added.
With Lunar New Year coming soon, there is last-minute cargo demand. It is projected, therefore, that container throughput at ports on the west coast of North America will not decline at least until the end of February, making terminal congestions remain uneased.
