b'DECEMBER 20, 2021FEBRUARY 13, 2022ANALYSIS & PERSPECTIVE13Long Beachs Cordero defends(IMPERILcontinued fromtry has a current shortfall oftheir warehouse operations. page 12) over 60,000 drivers, accord- J.B.Huntisworkingwith surcharges on carrierstheseslowdowns,accord- ingtotheAmericanTruck- railroadsandcustomers,he ingtoField.TheperennialingAssociations,anumbersaid, to improve our capac-as bold measures needed shortage of truck drivers hastheorganizationexpectstoityacrossthenetworkby becomeexacerbatedduringgrowtomorethan160,000focusingonreducingthe By Stas Margaronis, AJOT thepandemic,butthesameby 2028. Driver salaries aredetentionofequipmentand nowgoesforpersonnelaton the rise, and some truck- helping rail providers reduce Port of Long Beach Exec- truck, ocean carriers will beintermodalterminalsanding firms are paying signingcongestionacrosstheirter-utive Director Mario Corderochargedforeverycontainerwarehouses,allofwhichbonuses, but Chris Spear, theminalinfrastructure.The defended surcharges that thedwelling nine days or more. accountsforrecord-highATACEO,recognizesthatcarrierisalsoon-boarding Ports of Long Beach and LosForcontainersmovingturnaround times for intermo- payalonecantsolvethenewequipment,aneffort Angeles propose to assess onbyrail,oceancarrierswilldal equipment.scarcity of drivers.whichwilllikelystretch ocean carriers, which he saidbechargedifthecontainerDatafromtheBureauAmongotherthings,into early 2022.werenecessarytoalleviatehas dwelled for three days orofLaborStatisticsshowedSpearwantssupply-chainNew equipment may alle-thecongestioncrisisatthemore. trucking lost 6% of its laborparticipantstopitchintoviate some shortages, but car-two ports. force at the bottom of the pan- improve conditions for truck- riers and warehouses still need At a media briefing on Octo- W aiTT iMe fors hips demicrecession. AsofJuly,ersbyreducingwaittimes.the personnel to handle them. ber 27th Cordero explained:u naccepTaBletheindustryhadrecoveredDrivershavereportedaAccording to Field, some ter-We need to take bold mea- Cordero said the average63,000 of those lost jobs but27%increaseindelaysofminalsandwarehousesare sures to address a very, verywait time for ships at anchorstillremains33,000shortofsix hours or more, he said.4% to 5% short-handed.The serious situation hereThewaiting to unload containersFebruary2020employmentThis idling wreaks havoc onproblem, he said, is that there objectivewith the carriersattheSouthernCalifornialevels.Thedrivermarkettheir schedules.arentthemassiveamounts is to move the cargoits amarine terminals was ten daysremainsaschallengedasFieldbelievesthattheofpeoplethattheyneedto broad-brush approach to dealwhich was an unacceptableIhaveseeninmy37-yearoriginofthesechallengeshire. But, he added, I think with what we need to move innumberthere shouldnt becareer, said Nick Hobbs, J.B.center on the availability ofthatalloftherailroadsare the San Pedro Bay complex. any vessels at anchor - thatsHunts chief operating officer. labor for both the railroads,veryfocusedonthesechal-Corderoexpressedthewhat were trying to accom- Even with the recovery ofparticularlyintheirtermi- lenges and they are out there hopethatcarriers,shippers,plish here. some driving jobs, the indus- nals,andourcustomersinaddressing them.truckers and railroads would continuetoworkcollabora-tivelytoreducecongestion andspeedcontainersfrom terminalstowarehousesfor distribution to end users.Earlier in the day a group of shippers discussed conges-tionconcernsataFederal MaritimeCommissionadvi-sory group meeting. SeveralSPEED TO shipperscomplainedabout the proposed surcharges. One shipper questioned the legal-ityofthesurcharges.The shippers worried that the sur- MARKETchargesmightendupbeing assessed on the shippers and that the surcharges proposed by the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would only add to costs.asCorderodisagreedwithLOWER this assessment stating that the surchargewasnotdesigned a pass on to shippers, but as a tool to break the conges- COSTtion logjam at the two South-ern California ports:Itisnotintendedasa pass on costboth myself andmycolleagueGene Seroka(executivedirector Port of Los Angeles) we haveExperience proves cargo shipped from Asia through adirectivethatwehavetothe Seattle+Tacoma gateway gets there faster. Let addresstomovethiscargous show you the difference less congestion, efficient and not everyone is going tomultimodal operations, and best-in-class customer be happy about the way wecare can mean to you. When time to market is dothis.Iamaskingevery- critical, choose The Northwest Seaport Alliance. NWSeaportAlliance.comone to have that collaborative spirittoaddressacrisiswe have before us.p orTsa nnounces urchargesIn an October 25th press release, the Ports of Long Beach andLosAngelesannounced that they will assess the ocean carriers$100percontainer perdayiftheyfailtomove containersoffmarineter-minalsbytruckandbyrail: Theannouncementsaidthat beginningNovember1stthe portswillchargeoceancar-riers with cargo in those two categories $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day. In the case of contain-ersscheduledtomoveby'