Port of Los Angeles (Port of LA) and Port of Long Beach announced has announced a further postponement of consideration of the "Container Dwell Fee" at North America's busiest ports for four more weeks, until October 21.

In a brief announcement, the two ports said since the program was announced on October 25, 2021, the Port of LA and Long Beach have seen a combined decline of 52% in ageing cargo on the docks.

"The executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after monitoring data over the next month," the announcement said, adding that fee implementation has been postponed by both ports since the start of the program.

"The Long Beach and Los Angeles Boards of Harbor Commissioners have both extended the fee program through October 26," 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 earlier planned to charge ocean carriers US$100 per container, increasing in US$100 increments per container per day until the container leaves the terminal.

Port of LA and Long Beach said any fees collected from dwelling cargo will be reinvested for programs designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity and address congestion impacts.