Terminal operators at the ports of Los Angeles & Long Beach have announced a temporary increase to Truck Mitigation Fees, or "Pier Pass" charges, effective from December 1, 2021 to January 31st, 2022. Truck drivers are charged a Pier Pass fee for entering the ports during peak activity hours-- M-F 7:00am to 6:00pm-- to encourage more activity during off-peak hours. The announcement, which is subject to approval by the Federal Maritime Commission, is intended to further incentivize carriers to make containers pickups outside of peak business hours. Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31st, Pier Pass charges will be doubled to $78.23 per Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit ($156.46 per 40').
The port pair has also announced the delay of expensive container dwell charges from implementation date November 15 to now go into effect on November 22. The announcement comes after the ports collectively saw a 26% decrease in aging containers since being announced on October 25. “There’s been significant improvement in clearing import containers from our docks in recent weeks,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. “I’m grateful to the many nodes of the supply chain, from shipping lines, marine terminals, trucks and cargo owners, for their increased collaborative efforts. We will continue to closely monitor the data as we approach November 22.” If the Biden administration-backed dwell charges are allowed to take effect, ocean carriers will be charged for import containers dwelling at port for 9 days or more if scheduled to move by truck, or six days or more for containers scheduled to move by rail. The ports will charge ocean carriers in these two categories $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day until the container leaves the terminal.
OTS Astracon will continue to monitor the situation and will keep our customers updated. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your OTS Sales representative.