The Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles has announced that consideration of the “Container Dwell Fee” will be pushed back further until April 1 citing continued improvement in port movements.

The two San Pedro Bay ports said they have seen a combined decline of 57% in aging cargo on the docks since the program was announced on October 25.

"The executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after monitoring data over the next week. Fee implementation has been postponed by both ports since the start of the program," it added.

Under the temporary policy, ocean carriers can be charged for each import container dwelling nine days or more at the terminal. Currently, no date has been set to start the count with respect to container dwell time. 

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

The ports noted that any fees collected from dwelling cargo will be reinvested for programs designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity and address congestion impacts.