The Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are seeing record numbers of ships waiting at anchor as the global congestion crisis rolls on.
The Marine Exchange of Southern California reported on 30 August that four new records have been set for the ports of San Pedro Bay.
A total of 129 vessels in the two ports has broken the previous record of 123 vessels on 13 August. Some 75 vessels were at anchor or in a drift area has broken the former record of 71 on 27 August.
Further, the exchange noted that 76 container ships in the port has broken its previous record of 75, and 47 container ships at anchor or drift area on 29 August has broken its previous record of 46 on 28 August.
“Today, regular and contingency anchorages remain essentially full including all 10 contingency anchorages off Huntington Beach. Eleven ships are in drift areas including eight container ships and three tankers; one bulk ship on the way to a drift area,” the exchange, which reports on vessel traffic for the two ports, wrote in a social media post.
The record congestion facing the major ports of San Pedro Bay is just the latest in a sky-high surge in good traffic flowing through its gateways: a pandemic-led surge in e-commerce, combined with bottlenecks in inland transport capacity, has led to congestion at many ports around the US.
