Port of LA Backlog Issues Compound Supply Chain Concerns, Causes Exports to Sink 23%

Port officials say strong American consumer demand has continued unabated for more than a year, as the Port of Los Angeles has seen a 30% increase in cargo volume so far this year.

It's impacting agriculture in the U.S. because of record-high shipping rates. That’s coupled with the fact that some shipping lines are working to get empty containers back to factories in Asia as quick as possible.

The Port's executive director says they processed more empty containers in August than they ever have before.

“Trying to find a way to get an empty container chassis and truck power from the Chicago area up to the red River Valley of North Dakota to load up with soybeans, or no. 5 red wheat has been an elusive solution to all of us,” says Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. “The repositioning costs are extraordinarily high and only exacerbated with this import buying surge that we've witnessed and unfortunately, the trade policy that carried over from the last administration, which is part of the reason why we're talking across stakeholder groups and trying to get big thinkers at the table and how we can do this. In fact, Peter Friedman recommended that we worked on near port locations of agricultural supply, where we can turn these empty containers in 12, 24 hours, get them back to port for the first acceptance day possible and load to an export vessel."

Seroka says American exports in August at the Port were down almost 23% from last year at the same time.