US container terminals face waits of up to 18 hours

Container terminals at several major US gateways are facing vessel delays, with waiting times reaching up to 18 hours at Charleston and Savannah, according to Hapag-Lloyd’s latest North America operational update.

At South Carolina Ports’ Wando Welch Terminal, Hapag-Lloyd reported waits of up to six hours for Gemini Cooperation vessels and as much as 18 hours for non-Gemini services.

No vessel waiting time was reported at the neighbouring North Charleston Terminal.

Truck turn times were averaging 24 minutes at Wando Welch and 23 minutes at North Charleston. Import dwell stood at 5.1 days and 3.8 days, respectively.

Savannah is also experiencing delays at Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal, where Hapag-Lloyd reported vessel waiting times of up to 18 hours.

The carrier said some berthing delays related to storms and lightning were expected to continue into the following week.

Average truck gate times at Savannah were 35 minutes for single transactions and 50 minutes for double transactions. Import containers were dwelling for an average of 2.6 days, while rail dwell stood at 1.3 days.

Further north, vessels calling at the Port of Virginia are also experiencing delays. Hapag-Lloyd reported waits of up to three hours for Gemini vessels at Virginia International Gateway and up to four hours for vessels at Norfolk International Terminals.

Average import dwell across the Virginia gateway was 2.5 days.

At Port Houston, vessels were facing waits of up to three hours at both Barbours Cut and Bayport container terminals. Loaded import dwell averaged 2.2 days at Barbours Cut and 2.3 days at Bayport.

Hapag-Lloyd also reported that two cranes were unavailable at Bayport at the time of the update.

On the US West Coast, the carrier reported no vessel waiting time at Oakland International Container Terminal, although average import deliveries were taking up to 5.6 days and gate turn times averaged 82 minutes.

At APM Terminals Pier 400 in Los Angeles, Hapag-Lloyd’s service-level data showed vessel waiting times of up to 12 hours.

The Port of Los Angeles was recording an average local import dwell time of 3.1 days and an on-dock rail dwell of four days.

Hapag-Lloyd also confirmed several vessel changes around the Labor Day period, including omissions at Charleston and Port Everglades as part of holiday contingency arrangements.