The Port of Oakland and its terminal operators are chipping away at their cargo backlog by running Saturday and Sunday gates, and the weekend gate program could remain in effect for another month. Oakland has moved more than 1,000 import containers each weekend since Thanksgiving. Like other West Coast ports, Oakland is witnessing terminal congestion and vessel backlogs at anchor. The port cited three reasons for the congestion: increased U.S. trade with Asia, diversion of vessels and containers from Los Angeles-Long Beach, where congestion is even worse than in Oakland, and the impasse in contract negotiations between the ILWU and the PMA.
In order for the weekend gates to flow smoothly, arrangements are made for Customs cargo clearance, additional longshore labor is ordered and marine clerks must also be dispatched for the weekend gates. In addition to opening the gates to trucks on weekends, Oakland is taking the following measures to relieve congestion: Express lanes have been established to handle the least-complicated trucker transactions; the port is sending out daily status updates to advise cargo owners on peak periods for container pickups and traffic control managers are posted at the gates to manage the truck lines.
Livingston continues to track the ongoing labor negotiations and will post updates as they become available. We recommend you bookmark our West Coast port updates page and follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest.
Source: Journal of Commerce