Port of Oakland, Calif., contributes to cargo congestion
The port authority in Oakland, Calif., announced that their cargo volume missed its targets due to cargo congestion on the West Coast.
By Michael McGrady, Maritime Direct Americas & Pacific Correspondent
The Port of Oakland announced earlier this week reported that its containerized cargo volume declined in the month of January.
The port authority also said that import volume dropped 11.9 percent last month, compared to January of 2020. Exports, additionally, were down 11.3 percent.
“There’s a lot of cargo trapped on ships just waiting to get to hereafter departing Southern California,” said Bryan Brandes, the Port of Oakland’s maritime director, in a press release.
“Our concern is getting shipments to our customers as quickly as we can,” Brandes added. Brandes, and the port, note that much of the decline is due to three central factors.
One of the first factors is the congestion of late-arriving vessels from Southern California ports where up to 60 boats are anchored, awaiting berth access.
Also, the temporary loss of berth capacity at Oakland’s terminals due to crane assembly.
Lastly, the dwindling vessel space for Oakland exports as ships carrying more empty cargo containers to Asia.
