The San Pedro Bay ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles announced that they will further postpone consideration of the "Container Dwell Fee" for four weeks, until September 23 citing continued improvement in cargo flows at the two major North American gateways.

In a statement, the Port of LA and Long Beach said since the program was announced on Oct. 25, 2021, the two ports have seen a combined decline of 46% in ageing cargo on the docks. 

The executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after monitoring data over the next month.

Fee implementation has been postponed by both ports since the start of the program.

Meanwhile, the Long Beach and Los Angeles Boards of Harbor Commissioners have both extended the fee program through October 26.

Port of LA and Long Beach noted that 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.