Container lines are to roll out congestion surcharges of up $1,000 per feu on trade from Asia for cargo moving through US West Coast ports from 17 November.

As labour-related delays continue at US ports members of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) said they were now incurring losses and additional expenses due to the delays.

“Beginning November 17 carriers will assess and collect their respective charges on an individual basis for eastbound and westbound cargo,” TSA said.

TSA noted that terminal operators in Seattle and Tacoma were reporting 40 – 60% productivity reductions, while in Southern California 14 ships were at anchor waiting to berth and cargo handling operation movements had fallen to just 11 containers and hour.

“Carriers are mindful of the potential impacts of added charges on their customers and are monitoring the situation closely,” said TSA executive administrator Brian Conrad. ‘They would clearly rather not impose the charges, but are concerned that disruptions can escalate quickly across their networks, at significant cost, if they fail to respond quickly.”