It would take a gargantuan efforts, but the continued back-ups at multiple points for cargo coming into the huge complex that combines the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has some saying it’s time for the ports – and all the ancillary services - to consider “24x7” operations.

Supply Chain Digest Says...   operations would have to go 24x7 for all major players, including port (some already open round the clock), terminals, rail carriers, drayage and trucking firms, warehouse and cross dock facilities,     What do you say?   Click here to send us your comments       Click here to see reader feedback

According to the DailyBreeze.com web site, “Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero has been talking about a 24/7 transition for some time now, and he’s not the only one.”

The latest consideration of what would be a transformative change to operations is driven by severe congestion at both ports. Fueled by a surge in US consumer demand for goods in a stay-at-home economy, container volumes have surged since last summer, with growing congestion that may have recently peaked, with ships frequently waiting in the ocean for 10 days or more to be unloaded, as measured in “dwell time.”

It is not just port terminals that are backed up. The DailyBreeze notes that while terminal dwell time for cargo waiting for pickup on port property is finally improving of late, rail pickup times are still heading higher. Cargo moving directly east via rail – about 33% of the total – has been experiencing dwell times of more than 10 days on average in March, according to statistics released by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association , which represents West Coast terminal operators and shipping lines.

That’s up from 8 days in January.

So, the calls to consider a move to more round the clock operations. But the task will be monumental, many say.

Jim McKenna, CEO of the Pacific Maritime Association, which represent West Coast ports and terminal on labor matters, told the DailyBreeze that “It would be like solving world hunger" to making 24x7 happen.

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Why? Because current single or extended shift operations would have to go 24x7 for all major players, including port (some already open round the clock), terminals, rail carriers, drayage and trucking firms, warehouse and cross dock facilities, etc. It will also require revamped labor contracts with the unions.

“You’d have to have everybody come to the table” and pledge to coordinate all operations on a consistent basis, McKenna added.

And the US is behind. 24x7 operations is already in place system-wide in major Asian ports.

“We’re working on it,” Noel Hacegaba, deputy executive director of Administration and Operations for the Port of Long Beach, said of the preliminary discussions taking place on 24x7 operations, according to DailyBreeze. “Given the experience of the last 12 months, it’s time to start asking the question and taking a serious look” at the issue.

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