Ports up and down the US West Coast are currently struggling to cope with congestion and the sheer volume of container traffic that has been arriving from Asia during this year’s late peak season.
Congestion and delays in Los Angeles ports is nothing new during the past few months, but other West Coast ports, such as Seattle and Oakland/San Francisco, are also struggling with over capacity issues.
Despite the coronavirus, volumes moving through the ports in the past few months have been way up on previous years and the peak season period has extended into November.
China’s Golden Week holiday, in the first week of October, is traditionally when the peak season starts to wind down. However, an already struggling Los Angeles port handled 29% more import volume last month than for the same period last year.
The impact of the coronavorus and peak season is being felt throughout US logistics infrastructure, including transport, rail freight, ports and terminals across the country, resulting in significant delays in many deliveries.
Meanwhile, the Transpacific market continues to have high demand and ongoing issues with equipment availability, therefore rates have been increasing above and beyond previous record levels.
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