The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have developed a new procedure to solve the vessel congestion problem in San Pedro Bay
The system will come into effect on November 16th. Each ship will be assigned a place in the arrival queue based on the departure time from their last port of call. The new process will allow vessels arriving at the two ports to know when they can be handled. Based on their place in the queue, ships that are still sailing will be able to reduce their cruising speed to avoid arriving too early.
While they wait for a berth to be allocated to them, vessels arriving too early will have to stay 150 miles off the California coast. Ships will still be able to enter the port for fuel and crew changes.
The queuing system is the result of a collaboration between the Pacific Maritime Association, the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, and the Marine Exchange of Southern California.
According to Jim McKenna, CEO of the Pacific Maritime Association, the new queue management process is a fair and transparent system for reducing the number of vessels at anchor off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. This new process will improve maritime safety and air quality while helping to ensure ports are operating as efficiently as possible.
Translation by Giles Foster
