This week, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced that they would begin assessing additional charges on containers that linger at the port terminals too long. The ports will begin assessing the following fees starting on November 1, 2021.

• For containers scheduled to be picked up by truck at the port, a fee of $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day, would be assessed starting from the ninth day onwards.
• For containers moving via rail from the port, a fee of $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day, would be assessed starting from the sixth day onwards.

The fees are supposed to be charged to the ocean carriers. The ocean carriers have already sent messages that they will in turn assess the fees back to the importing community.

We also want to emphasize the escalating nature of these fees. Our understanding is that the fees will be cumulative. The American Shipper produced this great chart to illustrate how quickly the charges will escalate. As you can see, the charges can get out of hand very quickly.

Please note that these fees are IN ADDITION to already very expensive demurrage fees.

We are particularly concerned about containers moving IPI via Los Angeles and Long Beach. Importers are solely reliant on the steamship lines and their rail counterparts to get the containers moved onto rail. As we’ve seen in the past year, many containers moving inland via rail have been stuck at Los Angeles / Long Beach for weeks and sometimes even over a month waiting to move onto rail. For importers to have to bear the cost of these additional fees when they have no control over the movement of containers onto rail feels extra punitive.

There have been many cries of concern by the importing community over the new fee. We have yet to hear any news about adjustments to the new policy.