Marine Terminal Operators (MTOs) at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in November continued to work additional shifts to alleviate recent congestion. MTOs operated 118 additional gates (shifts open to truck traffic) in November, a 55% increase over the 213 OffPeak gates originally scheduled for the month.
The MTOs have been spending $3 million per week on additional and unbudgeted costs since September 1 to manage congestion. In addition to adding unscheduled gates and shifts, terminals have been working overtime and through lunch and breaks, and paying truckers to move containers between terminals to load on-dock trains.
The terminals have been working with industry partners to relieve a surge in congestion caused by a disruption in chassis availability and other factors.
The MTOs operated 73 additional gates in September, a 30% increase, and 86 additional gates in October, a 33% increase. These additional gates include both OffPeak shifts (Monday through Saturday nights and Saturday daytime) and Sunday shifts, which fall outside the OffPeak program. The regular schedule of gate operation is available at https://www.pierpass.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/PierPass-Offpeak-Schedule_10-25-14.pdf. Monthly scheduled totals vary according to the number of business days and holidays in each month. The number of regularly-scheduled OffPeak gates was 245 in September, 258 in October and 213 in November.