As announced in our advisory from November 1st, 2021, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach implemented the above charge with the intent to begin assessing fees as of November 15th, 2021. As a result of continued increased activities and a combined 37% reduction in long dwelling containers both Ports have announced they will further postpone the assessing of fees until Monday, December 6th, 2021.
As a reminder, after 8 days free time for local truck moves and 5 days for rail moves the fee increases in $100 increments per container per day until the container leaves the terminal i.e.
Local Import Loaded Container
| Days on Terminal | Daily Charge | Cumulative Charge |
| 9 | $100 | $100 |
| 10 | $200 | $300 |
| 11 | $300 | $600 |
| 12 | $400 | $1,000 |
| 13 | $500 | $1,500 |
Even though the number of container ships off the coast of Southern California waiting to berth has declined the pressure will continue in order to maintain the increased flow of cargo through terminals and further reduce congestion levels. This requires the cooperation of all parties involved in the supply chain to help facilitate this and hopefully cause the Container Excess Dwell fees to be further postponed by the Port Authorities.
Port of Seattle – SSA Terminals Container Excess Dwell fees as of Dec. 1st 2021
This fee, announced today by SSA Terminals, is effective from December 1, 2021, and is levied on all import containers that have exceeded 5 calendar days on the terminal.
Following the five day free time threshold, shippers will face a $50 per day charge for the next five days of storage thereafter; raising to $75 per day six to 10 days after the free time. The fee will again rise to $100 per day for the following five days (11-15 days after free time) and up to $150 per day thereafter, some 16+ days after the free time limit.
The terminal notice announced, “The importer of record in the shipping documents will be responsible for paying or arranging payment of the Extended Dwell Time Fee by check, money order, wire transfer, or any other methods, and pursuant to instructions provided by Operator through the Forecast website. “Once the fee has been paid the container will show as available in Operator’s container tracking system. Appointments on import lanes may not be made until the fee has been paid and the container is showing as available on the Forecast web site.”
Seattle is currently reeling from ongoing congestion: just yesterday Maersk reported that the Port of Seattle is experiencing a 21-day average waiting time for vessels queuing to berth.
Our customer service and operations teams continue to do their utmost to serve you in these very challenging times and will endeavor to keep you as fully informed as possible. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to us in case of further questions.
