Los Angeles/Long Beach Port truck drivers went on strike, and the continued congestion for ships has been extended to 8 days! Shipping companies raise general freight rates

There have been strikes in many ports recently, including the Port of Montreal in North America and Auckland, the largest port in New Zealand. It is reported that the truck drivers in the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach also went on strike.

According to foreign media reports, Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach truck drivers, represented by the Teamsters union, started to strike this week in order to boycott Universal Logistics Holdings (ULH), which will further aggravate the congestion on the west coast of the United States.

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According to information on the Truck Drivers Association website, ULH’s affiliates in the port “illegal dismissed truck drivers and refused to pay their back wages, as well as refusing to recognize and bargain with the rights that union drivers have legally won.”

This strike is mainly to protest ULH's flagrant violation of the federal labor law. It is understood that ULH is a multi-billion dollar logistics company and one of the largest freight companies serving Southern California.

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It is worth noting that just before the strike, on March 17 this year, the National Labor Relations Board accused ULH companies of violating a number of federal labor laws, including dismissing all drivers of Universal Truckload. Crack down and prevent union activities and prevent employees from filing lawsuits.

The truck drivers who participated in the strike said that in view of the current congestion at the US West port, they hoped that the strike action would prompt the problem to be resolved as soon as possible. If the strike continues, it will seriously affect the container transportation at the West Coast of the United States, further aggravating cargo congestion and shipping delays.

At the same time, the record-breaking container ship congestion in San Pedro Bay shows little sign of abating.

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Imported goods are pouring into the Port of Los Angeles like a tide. A new record was set in March. It is expected that the container traffic volume will remain at the highest level in June, but container ships will still be stranded.

Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said at a news conference on Wednesday: "This is crazy. In March, the port of Los Angeles throughput was 957,599 TEU, a year-on-year increase of 113%, which was the highest throughput in March in the port's history."

"If these containers are placed end to end, they will extend from Los Angeles to New York, and then across half of the United States."

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Port of Los Angeles recent imports
Among them, the total number of imported containers was 490115 TEU, a year-on-year increase of 122%; export containers were 122,899 TEU, a year-on-year increase of 1%. The total amount of outbound empty containers was 344,585 TEU, a year-on-year increase of 219%.

"For peak seasons like September or October, this is a big number," Seroka said.

However, there are still many container ships berthed in San Pedro Bay. According to data from the Los Angeles data platform, as of Wednesday, the average berth time is still 8 days, which is 7 to 7.5 days compared to the reported in January and February. The time is higher.

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Seroka said that there were 20 ships at anchor on Wednesday. Compared with the single-day peak of 40 ships on February 1, he speculated that “the number has been reduced by half.”

Looking at the data from a broader perspective, the improvement is not so significant.

The daily anchorage count from the Southern California Ocean Exchange shows that so far, an average of 29.6 ships sail on anchorages every day. As recently as April 2, this average level was exceeded. So far, the average level in April is 24.1 ships per day, which is 18.5% lower than the year-to-date average. This is a good progress, but it is far from reaching the "halving" level.
Seroka said: "We hope to reduce this number to zero." "The goal is to clear the anchorage and allow the ships to berth directly. In the meantime, we may still need to carry out six weeks of deep excavation work." He said that he expected " You may see ships anchored at anchor points at the end of May or early June."

▍Hapag-Lloyd raises general freight rates from East Asia to the United States and Canada

According to the announcement, from May 15, 2021 (the date of receipt at the origin), Hapag-Lloyd will increase the general freight rate (GRI) from East Asia to all destinations in the United States and Canada. Suitable for all dry, refrigerated, non-operational refrigerated, tank, flat rack and open top containers:

East Asia to North America (USA and Canada)
USD 960 per all 20' container types
USD 1200 per all 40' container types

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East Asia is defined as Japan, South Korea, China/Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines and Russia's Pacific Rim provinces/regions.