Maritime Leaders Introduce a Plan for Safety and Air Quality

By Jessica Alvarenga, Government Affairs, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association

A working group of maritime leaders introduced a plan to reduce the number of idling vessels sitting outside the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach while improving maritime safety and air quality.

The pandemic-related increase in cargo volumes has created major impacts throughout the supply chain. Full warehouses, truck driver shortages, and lack of critical equipment like chassis to move cargo have caused cargo to back up on marine terminals. Terminals are filled with containers dwelling over seven days [See graphic below] so there is no room for new arriving vessels to unload causing vessels to idle outside of the ports. The number of vessels idling has been growing dramatically. Last week the ports reached a new record – not a good one – of 83 container vessels at anchor and drifting.

Previously, container vessels were rushing into port to cross the twenty nautical mile mark to be placed on a master queuing list that tracks the order of vessels coming into the ports. This system has been in existence for decades and worked as a fair way to manage labor assignments to load and unload ships, but was causing vessels to race across the Pacific in order to get in line and sit for a week or more. The community and government agencies expressed their concerns about maritime safety and additional emissions from vessels idling outside the harbor.

The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the Southern California Marine Exchange, and the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA), and their individual member companies, came together to develop a more efficient practice. Effective November 16th, vessels can be placed on the master queuing list upon leaving their last port of departure prior to arriving at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. This process will allow vessels to slow their speed and delay their arrival on the West Coast closer to their anticipated berthing time. The goal is to reduce vessels at anchor that will improve vessel safety before the onset of winter weather and also reduce both fuel consumption and emissions. Additionally, if vessels arrive more than 72 hours before their berthing time, the vessel master is requested to voluntarily stay outside of a safety and air quality area, ranging from 50-150 miles depending on the direction of travel.

This new strategy is not going to clear the vessels at anchor overnight, but it is expected to have an impact over the next several weeks. I’m proud of the industry leaders who worked very hard to quickly develop a fair and transparent system through collaboration.