Officials at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are urging California Governor Gavin Newsom to give priority to vaccinating longshore workers against the COVID virus so as to relieve congestion and delays at the two ports caused in part by a shortage of longshore workers who have been infected.

While this could just be a case of early teething problems, logistics specialists and trade analysts fear it’s more likely a portent of the difficulties to come moving cargo to and from Britain.

Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles reported that the Port moved 9.2 million twenty-foot containers (TEUs) in 2020

Ed Denike, president SSA Containers, said that ocean carriers tell him that vessel congestion at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is likely to continue until March.

On 4 January Iran detained the South Korean chemical tanker Hankuk Chemi for allegedly ‘repeatedly’ violating its environmental regulations and polluting its waters.

Cees van Pelt, manager technical operations, Rotterdam Shortsea Terminals (RST) warned that post-Brexit maritime commerce between the UK and Europe is likely to face congestion and delays during the first half of 2021 resulting, at least temporarily, in more Trans-Channel freight being transported by container ships as opposed to rail and Ro/Ro (Roll On/Roll Off ships).

Jennifer Carpenter, president of the American Waterways Operators (AWO) told AJOT in an interview that despite the Covid crisis, the industry benefited from a number of successes in the outgoing 116th Congress:

Paul Bingham, an economist for IHS Markit, told the Agriculture Transportation Coalition ( AgTC) members that the surge of imports into the United States from Asia in the second half of 2020 is likely to continue through 2021. The import surge has caused congestion at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and is complicating the efforts of agricultural exports to obtain equipment and vessel bookings for sails to Asia.

Weston LaBar, president of the Harbor Trucking Association (HTA), based in Long Beach, California, said that recent ocean carrier practices have led to congestion and application of unfair charges for detention and demurrage on truckers and shippers that “will result in the loss of cargo” at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The Texas Legislature will be asked to approve a $26 billion coastal defense network, including $12 billion for storm surge gates to protect Galveston Bay and the Port of Houston from hurricanes and storm surges, according to Tony Williams, environmental review coordinator for the Texas General Land Office.