IN THE NEWS: Port of Los Angeles freight rail delays reach two-year high, with holiday and everyday items piling up

CNBC
October 18, 2024
Lori Ann LaRocco

Record imports over the last several months at the West Coast ports are leading to congestion on the rails, as holiday goods and everyday items pile up. Almost half of the containers bound by freight rail out of the Port of Los Angeles are waiting nine-plus days to get out of the port and onto the rail.

Before the August and September container surges, the average rail dwell for the San Pedro Basin (which includes the Port of LA and Long Beach) was four days.

In September, the Port of Los Angeles moved a total of 954,706 twenty-foot equivalent units making the month its best September ever. At the port’s monthly cargo briefing on Friday, executive director Gene Seroka told CNBC there are currently 20,000 rail containers sitting at the port waiting to be loaded out, and he is speaking with the railroads on a daily basis about the increased dwell times.

But he stressed that the rail congestion is not leading to any additional issues at the port as far as vessel and trucking operations. “This is not impacting port operations,” said Seroka. “We want to make sure we improve on all port operations. The railroads continue to be our focal point.”

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Paul Brashier, Global Logistics Vice President of ITS Logistics, told CNBC that ITS Logistics is continuing with the contingency plan in place since the Red Sea diversions began but avoiding potential rail issues at the port as much as possible.

“With no final resolution to the ILA strike and Red Sea conflict, we expect diversion volumes to continue,” Brashier said. “The most effective and cost-effective way for us to move our clients’ freight is to bypass the initial rail terminal at the port. We grab the container at the port before it gets to the rail, unload the rail ocean container, and reload the freight into a truck. It is then transported further inland into our client’s supply chain.

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