The US West Port levied a huge cumulative fine, 90 days overdue, and a fine of 410,000 US dollars per box!

It is reported that on Friday, local time in the United States, the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach Port Committees unanimously approved a plan to charge carriers for container excess detention fees (Container Excess Dwell Fee), which will take effect on Monday.


Charging standard: Under the 90-day policy, for containers that are planned to be transported locally by truck, they will be charged starting from the 9th day of their stay at the port (note: the card delivery stays for free for 8 days, and the rail transit stays for free for 5 days!) , The first day overdue will be charged USD 100 per box, and USD 200 on the second day, and so on;



For containers that are planned to be transported by rail, the fee will be charged from the 6th day (the previous notice started from the 3rd day), and the charging method is the same as above.



According to this charging method, on the 5th day after the expiry date, the charge per container will be US$1,500, and by the 30th day, the fee per container will be as high as US$46,500. If it`s 90 days, it`s $409,500!





Port: collect money if you don't take the goods!


The port will start calculating the time the container stays at the terminal from November 1, but the port will not start assessing fines until at least November 15.



The port leaders stated that they have the right to postpone the collection of fees if they see the progress of container shipments from the terminal in the next two weeks.



The new fee is expected to be charged for 90 days, which is also the current expectation of the United States, and significant improvements must be seen within 90 days!



The chairman of the Los Angeles Port Commission, Jaime Lee, said in a statement: "Our goal is not to generate revenue. On the contrary, we need our supply chain partners to make operational changes to reduce stay time, clean up the terminal, and wait for entry into the port. Ship to make room."



Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said: [We tried diplomacy and cooperation, but nothing worked. Los Angeles has no other choice but to evaluate the cost of excessive detention of containers."







The ship`s company throws the pot; the owner: It`s not my fault.


However, the existing trans-Pacific shipping company quickly made it clear that they will not bear the new costs, but will pass the costs on to the retailers who own the product. But this move marked a radical change in the typical shipping company's major customer relationship in the largest trade channel in the United States.



This is because in the past, shipping companies voluntarily agreed to absorb demurrage charges levied by ports in order to attract - and maintain - the business of large retailers that dominate the trans-Pacific trade channel. But LA-LB's new fees will test this traditional momentum.







Jonathan Gold, Vice President of Supply Chain and Customs Policy of the American Retail Federation also said:


"There is no doubt that shipping companies will want to pass on the cost. In fact, retailers also hope to retrieve imported heavy containers from the dock as soon as possible, but they will still encounter obstacles."



Jonathan Gold listed these obstacles as the LA-LB port complex being submerged in empty containers, severe chassis shortages, and restrictions on the return of empty containers by shipping companies and terminals. Until the shipping company and the terminal solve these problems, the whole problem will not be solved.



He said that the biggest concern for retailers and other importers is whether they should charge demurrage if they cannot pick up the container because of their own fault.



It is reported that the 9-day backlog of cargo on the terminal accounts for 47% of all containers in the port. In terms of actual value, this means that 38,000 of the 81,000 containers stacked on the terminal have been backlogged for 9 days.



Before the surge in imports triggered by the epidemic last year, the average stay time of locally shipped containers at the terminal was less than 4 days, while the stay time of containers transported by train was less than 2 days.