San Pedro Dwell Times Down, TEU Throughput Up
Posted by Eric Haun
January 3, 2017
Image: PMSA
Average dwell times at San Pedro bay container ports for November are in and there has been a decrease once again. This improved efficiency is good news as the percent of containers exceeding five days also decreased, while container throughput went up at San Pedro Bay’s ports ‐ according to the latest update by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA).
“Container dwell times for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to improve at a time when volumes continue to increase,” said John McLaurin, president of PMSA.
The dwell time of a container is the period between when containers are unloaded from a ship to the time they are picked up. The longer the dwell time of a container, the more terminal space they take up, and the more they interfere with the pickup and delivery of other containers.
“Shorter average dwell time contributes to more efficiency throughout the supply chain. If containers are not picked up in a timely fashion they become difficult to access, are stacked on top of one another resulting in them being moved around and reshuffled more often, slowing down terminal operations. November’s data shows the San Pedro Bay Complex is moving in the right direction and we hope this becomes a continuous trend,” McLaurin said.
