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.