The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach has announced that consideration of the “Container Dwell Fee” would be held off for another week, until December 20 after deferring it several times already citing improved cargo movements in North America's busiest cargo ports.

"Since the fee was announced on October 25, the twin ports have seen a combined decline of 47%  in aging cargo on the docks," Port of LA said, noting that the executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after another week of monitoring data.

Under the temporary policy approved October 29 by the Harbor Commissions of both ports, ocean carriers can be charged for each import container that falls into one of two categories: In the case of containers scheduled to move by truck, ocean carriers could be charged for every container dwelling nine days or more.

No set date yet for dwell time

For containers moving by rail, ocean carriers could be charged if a container has dwelled for six days or more.

"Currently, no date has been set to start the count with respect to container dwell time," the port added. "The ports plan to charge ocean carriers in these two categories $100 per container, increasing in US$100 increments per container per day until the container leaves the terminal."

Before the import surge began in mid-2020 which now causes major chokeholds in the ports, on average, containers for local delivery remained on container terminals under four days, while containers destined for trains dwelled less than two days.

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