If Port of LA Had More Truckers, ‘We’d Move More Cargo’: Executive Director

There has been “major improvement” in recent weeks to ease congestion across the Port of Los Angeles, “but there’s still so much work to do,” Executive Director Gene Seroka told a Washington Post webinar Thursday. The profound shortage of truckers and warehouse labor in Southern California remains a severe problem that won’t ease anytime soon, he said.

The number of “aging containers” sitting at the port “that have been in the news the past six weeks have declined more than 50% since we put out a penalty fee threat to the import community” to charge $100 a day for each container left lingering at the port, said Seroka. “We have not charged a dollar yet, but we’ve motivated people to start moving cargo through the domestic supply chain.”

Seroka is “very pleased” with the progress made in U.S. warehouse inventory levels, he said. The industry is now “a percentage point or two above where we were last year, and inventory on shelves is within a percentage point of where we were a year ago,” he said. “Savvy” U.S. importers began bringing in holiday inventory in June, “two months ahead of time compared to more normal cycles,” he said.

The number of container ships “at anchor” in the Port of Los Angeles has dropped “precipitously” in recent weeks, said Seroka. “We have 60 container ships on the horizon,” including those that have left Asia “and are coming across the Pacific, getting ready to come to our port,” he said.

That compares with 69 ships in mid-October, before the Pacific Maritime Commission imposed a new “vessel-queuing process” that required ships to anchor 150 miles outside the port, said Seroka. There’s “progress being made in small areas,” but “we have work ahead of us,” he said. Trans-Pacific shipping traffic remains “strong” because U.S. consumer demand for goods originating from Asia continues to be “elevated,” he said.

Seroka estimates his port drayage system for short-hauling import goods from the Los Angeles shoreline to nearby warehouses is at least 3,000 drivers short, he said. There’s also a “paucity of workers” to service the more than 2 billion square feet of warehouse space in Southern California, he said. “Right now there are 400,000 warehouse jobs open in the United States,” including at least 8,000 in his region, he said. “We’ve got to, when we catch our breath, find a way to create professions out of both these sectors, much like it was years ago.”

The Port of Los Angeles is fulfilling only half of its daily “available truck appointments,” said Seroka, despite the fanfare of the Biden’s administration’s Oct. 13 announcement of public- and private-sector commitments to haul more cargo by moving toward 24/7 operations at the port. “If we had more truckers, we’d move more cargo,” said Seroka. “If we had more warehouse workers, we could extend hours. There’s not one lever we can pull, but what we are saying -- and the succinct message is -- we’re open when you need us. We’ve had very few takers in that overnight segment of 3 a.m. to 8 a.m.” The industry has much more work to do “to get folks working longer hours,” he said. “In many cases, that means more employees.”

Seroka would like to see the introduction of “a nationwide port information-sharing system” to improve supply chain visibility, “and one of our biggest asks” was the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, “which is now law,” to upgrade U.S. ports, he said. “We must now step forward and get our fair share” of the legislation’s funding, he said. “Forty percent of the nation’s imports come through this gateway. It’s my belief that 40% of the infrastructure dollars would give the American consumer the greatest return on their investment.”

Seroka hopes the infrastructure money will start funneling through to his port “as quickly as possible,” he said. “We’ve given a shovel-ready list of projects to our leadership in the federal government, including $500 million for projects that can start quickly.”

Any influx of infrastructure funding “will accelerate those projects,” Seroka said. A top priority is “the work to densify the rail operations so we can get cargo out quicker,” he said. Also high on his list is creating a workforce training and development center, “the likes of which the United States has never seen,” he said. “We’ve got to upskill and reskill our dedicated workers, and it’s for all comers around the supply chain.” Other projects are on the board to “loosen up those bottlenecks and get cargo flowing as quickly as possible, including new and unique uses of property existing today,” he said.