The Post-Partisan Emporium

FULL CIRCLE! Truckers tired of taking blame for congestion crisis at California ports California port truckers say there’s not a driver shortage — just look at the lines As Miguel Silva surveyed his truck yard just outside the Port of Oakland last week, he pointed to shipping containers filled with corn and soybean seed bound for impoverished nations in Africa and elsewhere around the globe. Silva said his customers’ genetically modified seed, which can’t be reused because it’s engineered in a lab, should have been loaded on a cargo ship weeks ago to arrive in time for the planting season. However, appointment times can be scarce. The terminal operators’ push toward automation, which Silva and other trucking company owners say isn’t always reliable, requires drivers to check for appointment times day and night and on weekends to see if more time slots open up.  Miguel Silva, president of Intermodal Logistics “I have customers calling me daily, telling me to...

40,000 containers in LA and 18,900 in Long Beach have been sitting for 9-plus days The penalties on 58,900 containers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are officially racking up charges. These containers were part of the 60,000 containers the ports alerted the ocean carriers last Monday to move or face a daily $100 penalty per container, increasing in $100 increments per day. American Shipper reached out to both ports for updates on the removal of the “lingering” containers. According to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, there are a total of 84,000 total imports on docks waiting to be transported, a total that is 3,000 higher than a week ago. Of those 84,000, a whopping 40,000 of those containers have been at the Port of LA for nine-plus days, which is considered lingering. Containers are considered long-dwelling if the boxes are waiting over nine days for truck, six days for rail. “This is the wrong direction,” said Seroka. The Port of Long...