Congestion clears on the water, port truckers’ frustration mounts


Written by Stephanie Castaneda

Congestion clears on the water, port truckers’ frustration mounts

Despite the recent reports regarding congestion easing on the water in California’s major ports, truckers claim this isn’t the case for them; “long wait times, a flawed appointment system and other efficiency issues continue to plague marine terminal operators in the state.” Truck drivers are overwhelmed as most drivers have appointments but have to wait in line for 10 hours to grab a container. “an unreliable appointment system has drayage companies checking day and night to find open slots and vessel schedule changes”.

Port of Oregon officials urge ocean carriers to skip Southern California and arrive directly to Oakland to relieve the drivers and allow them to catch a breath.

While drayage companies expanded operations to accommodate increased e-commerce, the ports and terminal operators did not develop a long-term infrastructure plan to handle the massive container volume surge we have experienced.

“We can all see and feel that the supply chain is teetering on the edge. You can feel it because you’re paying more everywhere,” the drayage company executive said. “But in February, if we don’t clear out the congestion and we still have 80 vessels offshore and the next peak season merges with the current one, there’s no way out.”

Source: Freightwaves.com