Unfortunately, over the last few months there has been a huge increase in backdated containers at both Long Beach and LA ports. This has caused tremendous congestion as shipping companies have not moved their containers fast enough at marine terminals.

One way of dealing with the issue has been to impose fines.  If the containers remain at the port for more than 9 days, the shipping companies will be fined each day thereafter starting with $100 for each container.   The fine will be more onerous for the containers that need to be transferred by rail and the penalties for them will begin after 3 days of being at the port.

The issue is a simple one of space which has resulted in an interruption to the global supply chain.  As it is a ruling was made to permit the port complex to work 24 hours a day to move the load.  Given that a disproportionate number of containers from outside of America end up in LA and Long Beach which come from abroad (approximately 40%) and the substantial increase in orders since the beginning of the pandemic, this problem has now gotten significantly worse.

The fact that the Biden administration has gotten involved by making this law is indicative of how important the ports are to America’s economy.