How Port of Los Angeles is working on their current port congestion challange

Congestion at the nation's largest ocean gateways has been going on for nearly a year. Congestion issues have led to delays for shippers who have had to lengthen lead times and in some cases search for alternative import locations.

The short-term recommendations that The Port of Los Angeles is focused on include:
Creating incentives for driving down turn times for trucks, improving dual transitions;
Improving visibility with data tools like the port's Signal or Horizon forecasts
Working with the FMC to pilot improved detention and demurrage using the facility's Port Optimizer tool, and to create a data standard for tracking the issue
Figuring out how to better use capacity, as just 30% of truck appointments use nightside gates.

Seroka's (executive director at the Port of Los Angeles) long-term recommendations include:

Continued meeting with stakeholders through Federal Advisory Committee Act meetings can help to ensure that the government treats the stakeholders as a multi-modal freight environment and not a siloed ecosystem;
The creation of a national port information sharing system, which is an effort that Seroka has championed for years at this point;
Seroka told the administration that tariffs are hurting businesses, specifically the fees on chassis that ports need to increase pool capacity;
A workforce training center that would cost about $140 million for workers to get training and accreditation in jobs the community needs;
Shift the share of infrastructure investment to provide increased funds to the West Coast.

Seroka said that on-dock rail is his first priority for the infrastructure funds at the Port of Los Angeles. This is to be followed by rail and road connectors to ease congestion in those modes, and then "funding on a multi-modal freight system that will take into account the president's executive order on how we're doing this connectivity plan."

Some of the money that has been put aside for broadband in the infrastructure bill could be used for the nationwide port information sharing system. And money set aside for resiliency could be used to modernize electrical systems to ensure they have the ability to power electric vehicles used in the facility, he said.

Source: https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/biden-port-administration-congestion-infrastructure/604961/