OAKLAND — The Oakland seaport, buoyed by more dockworkers hired over the spring and summer, exhorted shipping lines Tuesday to divert some cargo from gridlocked Southern California to the East Bay.
Officials at the Port of Oakland believe the East Bay cargo hub has plenty of capacity to handle more containers.
“There’s no congestion at the Oakland seaport,” said Bryan Brandes, Oakland’s port director. “We’re ready for more business.”
The Port of Oakland urged shipping companies to shift routes to the East Bay until the logjam eases in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
By some accounts, 40 to 70 cargo ships are rocking in the sea swells off the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports at any given time while dockworkers and truck drivers scramble to process and transport containers trapped at the Southern California hubs.
“We need ocean carriers to reinstate services in order to stabilize the supply chain, and our import and export partners echo this sentiment,” Brandes said.
The backlog at the Southern California ports has puzzled Lee Hubbard, a dockworker at the Port of Oakland and a member of Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
“It’s a mystery,” Hubbard said. “I don’t know why they don’t re-route those ships to Oakland.”
The Oakland seaport endured cargo snarls during the spring and summer.
To ease the logjams, the East Bay cargo complex orchestrated an agreement involving the union, shipping companies and terminal operators to hire more dockworkers.
The workers came aboard and the logjam eased at the Oakland seaport — dramatically.
“When it was super busy, you would cross the Bay Bridge and see 15 to 20 cargo ships sitting in the Bay,” Hubbard said. “Now, you might see two or three ships waiting in the Bay. There is no backlog in Oakland.”
Some Oakland dockhands are idled due to the lack of work. And matters have reached the point that the East Bay seaport is openly calling for shipping companies to shift cargo away from Southern California.
Containerized cargo volume at the Oakland seaport is up 4.2 percent in 2021 compared to 2020. But last month, cargo volume capsized and sank.
During September, 54 vessels stopped in Oakland, marking the lowest vessel call total at the port since 2015.
The grim results: September import volume at Oakland sank 13% from September 2020, according to the port. Exports from Oakland plunged 18%.
The Oakland seaport offered some arguments for cargo diversions from Southern California:
- Supply-chain congestion is likely to grind on elsewhere such as Los Angeles and Long Beach
- Vessels arriving at Oakland would be able to find clear sailing without gridlock
- Import cargo would be available for pick-up within days of discharge from ships. In some cases, import containers have been trapped for weeks near Los Angeles and Long Beach.
“We should see vessel calls and cargo volume recover in October and November,” Brandes said. “We have capacity in Oakland that needs to be put to use to help shore up the supply chain and support our economy.”
