Photos: is the port less crowded? It depends on who you ask

By Greg Hartmann On Dec 7, 2021

San Pedro Bay looks less crowded these days. The fleet of giant container ships lounging near the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles has thinned from its high of more than 80 in late October to 46 boats.

Is that a good sign of Southern California’s congested supply chain and air breathability? It depends on who you ask.

Children play on a Little League baseball field overlooking the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

At a press conference Tuesday on the occasion of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s first visit to the port complex, Los Angeles Port Executive Director Gene Seroka noted the decline in anchored ships as a sign of progress. “Since we introduced a penalty for long-aged containers, the number of ships at anchor has decreased by more than 40% in four weeks,” said Seroka.

The dramatic decline is due to a new policy by shipping trade groups that encouraged arriving ships to wait in the open sea. Beginning November 16, boats crossing the Pacific were asked to sit 250 miles offshore while waiting for a place to unload, and boats traveling north or south along the coast were asked to sit 80 miles out sit. Although only 46 ships were waiting in San Pedro Bay on Wednesday, an estimated 50 more container ships that were embarked after the changeover are now cavorting on the horizon, which would raise the total backlog to a record high.