Delay Notification: USA West Coast Port & Dockworkers update / All Customer Bulletin

Good morning,

Due to a massive increase in import volumes, and the spread of Covid-19, the situation on the USA West Coast, as far as vessel movements is concerned, has now become critical.

Please see the email below from our USA partner about the impacts of Covid-19, where there are now around 700 dockworkers in the Greater Los Angeles area infected with Covid, and many more away from work due to Covid related issues.

As the situation worsens the backlog in LA grows and spreads to Oakland and Seattle, and freight is accumulating at an alarming rate. Ships are at berth and sitting up to a week before crews can work them causing massive delays and breaks in schedules.

Currently sea freight bookings are being rolled at random. We pre-book a month ahead of time, pull the containers, load, fumigate, only to be notified the day of the published cut off that the vessel is delayed, or the booking has been rolled altogether.

This leaves us with a loaded container that will sit in a yard (as the terminal will not accept it) accruing storage along with the chassis accruing storage.

Warehouses in LA are at capacity with export sea freight awaiting bookings. Pinpoint is in the process of obtaining an additional warehouse in LA to accommodate the sheer volume of delayed ocean LCL.

While we continue to have this ongoing problem it may be worth considering airfreight from the USA, as an option for some LCL shipments that are predictably required, for the foreseeable future.

USA East Coast sailings are overbooked, however there is some light at the end of the tunnel as the CMA fortnightly sailing from New York and Savannah will go weekly in mid-March, adding some desperately needed capacity.

Kind regards, MGL Logistics Pty Ltd