Los Angeles, Long Beach harbors still not seeing vessel crunch

Los Angeles, Long Beach harbors still not seeing vessel crunch    A month into the peak season at the Southern California ports this year and it's not at all resembling the massive flotilla of containerships waiting at anchor last year, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, traffic control for the nation's largest port complex.
   The Marine Exchange reported Friday that the number of vessels arriving at the two ports from January through July 2005 was significantly down from a year ago ' partially the result of a host of new post-Panamax ships now regularly making calls in Southern California. They are projecting 435 ship calls (about half of which are containerships) in August, compared to 511 that called last August.
   And the number of ships calling on the ports at any one time has remained manageable this year (between 35 and 50 ships) as opposed to 2004, when as many as 47 ships lay waiting at anchor due to rail, trucker and dockworker shortages.