The Husky terminal at the Port of Tacoma has introduced a rehandling charge for long-stay containers to clear congestion.
Following on from the recently-introduced surcharge from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, in a special notice Husky wrote that local import dwell on the terminal has grown significantly although volumes have remained similar to 2020 levels.
“Over the past several months local import dwell on the terminal has grown exponentially despite our numbers remaining similar to our 2020 volumes,” the terminal wrote.
The increased container dwell times are a result of challenges plaguing many supply chains across the US – crippled through a lack of availability of chassis and rail transport to take containers inland.
From 1 November all local import units that have exceeded 15 calendar days on the terminal will incur a $315 Long Stay Rehandling Charge. Payment will be due prior to release and payable through the terminal’s online portal or CargoSprint.
“Husky Terminal strongly urges our customers to target picking up high dwelling units from Husky during the rest of October to avoid the additional fee,” the operator added.
Other mitigation efforts include offering Saturday opening gates and operating two additional Rubber-Tyred Gantry (RTG) cranes.
Saturday gates have continued to be offered each and every week since August and are offered through 20 November from 07.00 to 16.00.
“Despite our best efforts, the overall number of high dwelling units continues to increase along with overall duration of stay. Regrettably the deterioration in import velocity has directly impacted yard fluidity, forcing the terminal to perform multiple rehandles of the same units over an extended period,” the terminal noted.
Congestion is not just limited to the ports of southern California: in October MSC announced it will be temporarily omitting the Port of Seattle from its Eagle service due to increased waiting time for vessel berthing brought on by the ongoing congestion crisis.
