b'4American Journal of Transportation ajot.comContainerPort GroupweatheringLBs Cordero defends surcharges on the supply-chain storm carriers as bold measures needed National drayage carrier copes with congestion with technologyto address congestion crisisand a focus on customers and drivers.By Stas Margaronis, AJOTBy Peter Buxbaum, AJOT PortofLongBeachExecutivethePortsofLos AngelesandLong WithterminalscloggedandthetheUnitedStatesEasternseaboard,Director Mario Cordero defended sur- Beach would only add to costs.supply chain snarled, its not surprisingalong the Gulf Coast, and at inland railcharges that the Ports of Long BeachCordero disagreed with this assess-that congestion has put the entire dray- terminals, has felt that pressure, saidand Los Angeles propose to assess onmentstatingthatthesurchargewas age industry under enormous pressure.Joey Palmer, the companys recently- oceancarriers,whichhesaidwerenot designed as a pass on to shippers, Cargoreceiversaredetainingequip- namedpresident.Wehaveseennecessary to alleviate the congestionbut as a tool to break the congestion mentforlongerperiodsoftime congestionatmarineandrailtermi- crisis at the two ports. logjam at the two Southern California and drayage carriers get hit with thenals and chassis availability issues atAtamediabriefingonOctoberports: It is not intended as a pass on charges. The carriers pass those costsevery location. Increased equipment27th Cordero explained: We need tocostboth myself and my colleague on to customers, along with increaseddwell time has come as a direct resulttake bold measures to address a very,Gene Seroka (executive director Port rates bought on by tight capacity, butofsupply-chaincongestion,forcingveryserioussituationhereTheof Los Angeles) we have a directive thesituationrepresentsasignificantthecarriertoincurunprecedentedobjectivewiththecarriersistothat we have to address to move this cash outlay for the dray carriers. increases in dwell-time costs. move the cargoits a broad-brushcargo and not everyone is going to be CongestionhasalsoresultedinBut,Palmeradded,Wehaveapproach to deal with what we need tohappy about the way we do this. I am lowerproductivityfromthedrayageperformed incredibly well under themove in the San Pedro Bay complex. asking everyone to have that collabor-industrysfleetofequipmentanditscircumstances. Corderoexpressedthehopethatative spirit to address a crisis we have drivers. Marine terminal drivers who(STORMcontinued on page 8) carriers, shippers, truckers and railroadsbefore us.could, before the congestion hit, turnwould continue to work collaboratively three or four shipments per day, nowto reduce congestion and speed contain- P ortsA nnounces urchArgesmust make do with only twoor evenersfromterminalstowarehousesforIn an October 25th press release, one. Meanwhile, the drivers, who aredistribution to end users. the Ports of Long Beach and Los Ange-alsoexperiencingincreasedcostsofEarlier in the day a group of ship- les announced that they will assess the their own, need to be paid as before. Apers discussed congestion concerns atocean carriers $100 per container per driver shortage prevails in drayage, asa Federal Maritime Commission advi- day if they fail to move containers off it does among other trucking segments. sory group meeting. Several shippersmarine terminals by truck and by rail: Highdemandandtightdrivercomplainedabouttheproposedsur- Theannouncementsaidthatbegin-capacity remain the theme in the dray- charges. One shipper questioned theningNovember1sttheportswill age market, noted XPO Logistics, inlegality of the surcharges. The ship- chargeoceancarrierswithcargoin a recent Intermodal Market Update.pers worried that the surcharges mightthosetwocategories$100percon-ContainerPortGroup(CPG),aend up being assessed on the shipperstainer, increasing in $100 increments drayage carrier with 25 terminals alongJoey Palmer, president of CPGand that the surcharges proposed by(BOLDcontinued on page 9)With more than 250 locations across five continents, we are a premier terminal SSAMarineoperator offering a full spectrum of services and cargo handling.www.ssamarine.com A Carrix Enterprise'