The San Pedro Bay ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will postpone consideration of the “Container Dwell Fee” for four weeks, until December 16, as the twin ports continued to report improvement in cargo movements.

In a statement, the San Pedro Bay ports noted that since the program was announced on October 25, 2021, the two ports have seen a combined decline of 87% in ageing cargo on the docks.

"The executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after monitoring data over the next month," Port of LA and Long Beach 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 January 24, 2023.

Under the temporary policy, ocean carriers can be charged for each import container dwelling for 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 earlier noted that any fees collected from dwelling cargo will be reinvested for programs designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity and address congestion impacts.