CargoSmart stats reveal extent of West Coast port turmoil

Data from CargoSmart’s Innovating newsletter shows port performance deteriorated even as the number of vessels calls at San Pedro ports shrank from October to January.    It hasn’t been difficult to see the impact of congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in recent months.
   The masses of containerships assembled at anchor near San Pedro Bay tell the story pretty clearly. But more detailed metrics show the full extent of the operational performance issues that plagued the port in late 2014 through the early weeks of 2015.
   According to statistics from the shipment management software provider CargoSmart, both Los Angeles and Long Beach experienced an increase in vessel arrival delays from August 2014 through January.
   For Los Angeles, the number rose from an average low of 21.1 hours in September 2014 to a high of 73.6 hours in January, according to the March issue of CargoSmart’s newsletter Innovating.
   “The increase leveled slightly during November and December, and then increased dramatically in January,” the newsletter said, citing information from CargoSmart’s Global Vessel Voyage Monitoring Center.
   At Long Beach, vessel arrival delays started with an average low of 25.8 hours in August 2014 and reached a high of 86.4 hours in January. It experienced a steady increase in vessel arrival delays from August to December 2014, and then experienced a sharp increase in January, similar to the Port of Los Angeles.
   Average berth times based on the vessels’ actual arrival and departure times at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach from August 2014 through January followed a similar upward trend, the newsletter said.
   Average berth time at Los Angeles increased from 60.5 hours in August 2014, to a high of 165.9 hours in December 2014. It then dropped slightly, to 160.4 hours in January. At Long Beach, average berth time increased from 79.7 hours in September 2014 to 137.9 hours in December 2014, then increased further, to 146.6 hours in January.
   Meanwhile, the number of vessel arrivals based on the actual time of arrival at the Port of Los Angeles decreased 55 percent, from 324 in October 2014 to 158 in January. At Long Beach, the number of vessel arrivals went from 252 in October to 137 in January.
   “Even though fewer and smaller vessels visited the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in January, vessel arrival delays continued to rise,” CargoSmart said.