The boxships stuck in San Pedro Bay, off the coast of the Ports of LA and LB, have become an impressive symbol of a broken supply chain. But in mid-November, the number of ships anchoring at these ports in the logjam had a noticeable drop. Though less ships are visibly waiting in San Pedro Bay, it might be tempting to assume the situation is healing.
Yet, the reality is that the queue of container-ships waiting to berth at the two major gateway ports of the United State continues to grow, hitting a record 96 boxships. Much of them has moved considerably further away over the horizon in a new queuing system.
News, images and videos of numerous vessels queued at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have helped bring the shipping and the supply chain overview into the public over the last 12 months. But they also brought with them pollution issues since the large numbers of container-ships burned fuel for weeks on end close to shore residential areas.
On Nov. 15, the Marine Exchange of Southern California, an organization monitoring vessel arrivals at southern California ports issued a newly-launched queueing system. It allows ships to secure a spot to pull into a berth before entering the 40-mile zone. To cut down on the amount of pollution pumps into the neighborhoods near the port, ships were then required to loiter beyond the horizon, 150 miles from the port.
According to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, on Dec. 04, there were 40 container-ships waiting within 40 miles of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and further 56 slow-speed steaming from their last port of call or loitering outside the Ship Safety and Air Quality Area (SAQA). As such that means the queue for the twin ports has reached a peak of 96 containerships – a record level- yet it is less visible and more difficult for a casual observer to count.
“With 98 total container vessels in the backlog when the normal pre-Covid number is 0-1 we have a long way to go to ‘normal’, but the new PacMMS vessel queuing is working with its intended purpose,” the Marine Exchange commented in a Facebook post.
