Efficiency and Resiliency Make 2024 the Best Year Yet for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

By Mike Jacob, President, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association

Should 2024 at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach objectively be labeled the best year at the San Pedro Bay port complex ever?  

At first glance, the total annual container statistics show that the all-time record volume was the 2021 high of 20.06 million TEUs, which occurred at the height of the pandemic.  This leaves 2024’s volumes of 19.94 million in a very strong and close second place.  

But, when the question of the productivity and efficiency of the system that delivered these 20 million containers in 2024 is compared to the chaos, disruption, and inefficiencies of the system that delivered 20 million containers in 2021, there is really no comparison about which was the best year for the Ports – it is hands down 2024.

There are several key factors in addition to just volumes by which to conclude that the nation’s largest intermodal gateway just hit its best year-to-date: improved marine terminal and intermodal supply chain efficiencies and environmental performance.

Efficiency across the entire intermodal supply chain has improved in spades in 2024 compared to 2021.  We all know to be anecdotally true because no one is casually asking us in the industry when their Peloton is getting delivered. 

This past year was also devoid of the number one visual that came to symbolize supply chain dysfunction and inefficiency – the vessels anchored or floating offshore in Southern California, the number of which peaked at 100+ in late 2021 and early 2022.  We no longer suffer that visual because there were no significant vessel back-ups in 2024.  Nor were there urgent calls for sweeper vessels to come and pick up containers in order to alleviate terminal congestion, and yes, there were no desperate calls from the White House for the ports to save Christmas.

These vessel backups no longer occur because the system is healthier, more resilient, and more efficient.  This is backed up by the key performance indicator for the measurement of marine terminal efficiency: container dwell times for truck and rail imports.  When looking at PMSA dwell time data from 2021and comparing it to 2024, there is no doubt which year demonstrated the best terminal efficiency.

In 2021 peak dwell times reached 8.37 days for truckload imports and 12.41 days for rail cargo imports.  These averages reflected growth in long-dwell containers of greater than 5 days on terminal hitting record percentages, and in response the Ports, and the White House for good measure, were threatening ocean carriers and marine terminals with new long-dwell demurrage fees.  Truckers were perennially caught in the middle of numerous chicken-and-egg situations between issues of chassis and equipment availability, warehouse capacity, and the average 2021 truckload import container dwell time was more than 5 days.

By contrast, in 2024, import container dwell times for trucked cargo remained steady all year at below or close to the historic averages with only a slight peak season uptick of over 3 days in September to December.  In fact, terminals and their partners in the drayage trucking fleet were so effective at maintaining this flow that the total yearly average was 2.86 days, a significant improvement in this key efficiency metric for imported cargo on marine terminals.

This phenomenal trucking efficiency consistency reflects the fact that drayage fleets had built in resiliency into their 2024 baseline because they had adequate power units and personnel to handle the steady flow of cargo.  These fleets were infinitely more competitive, flexible, reliable, and consistent than their marketplace allowed in 2021.

With respect to rail cargoes, they were still exceptionally susceptible to pronounced peak season spikes in dwell time in 2024, but even so marine terminals and the railroads also worked to significantly improve on-terminal rail throughput compared to 2021. The improvements are pronounced.  The highest monthly average for rail-bound imports that PMSA has recorded in San Pedro Bay peaked at 16.51 days in August 2022, but the peak in 2021 was 12.41 days in April 2021.  The peak average monthly rail dwell in 2024 was 9.86 days in October 2024.  Over those same times, marine terminals handled 130,000 railbound teus in October 2024 versus April 2021’s 116,000 railbound teus.  When comparing October 2024 to April 2021, marine terminals and their railroad partners saw an increase in volume of 12% while reducing dwell times by 20%. When your key performance indicator shows that you’re moving more cargo with less delay that is a direct reflection of higher marine terminal productivity and efficiency.  

Finally, not only are the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach moving nearly the equivalent of containers in 2024 that they moved in 2021, and doing it more efficiently, they are also moving this extraordinary amount of cargo with fewer emissions than ever before – and certainly cleaner than in 2021.   The Ports’ 2021 air emissions inventory showed impressive improvements since 2005 in air quality to be sure – with overall emissions reductions from all sources of Diesel Particulate Matter down -84%, NOx down -44%, and SOx down -95%. The 2021 inventory also showed an increase in greenhouse gases of +23%. But the latest emissions inventory released in 2024, which was actually the inventory of emissions from 2023, saw their most dramatic reductions ever when compared to 2005 – with Diesel Particulate Matter down -91%, NOx down -72%, SOx down -98%, and a dramatic turnaround on greenhouse gas emissions of -20%.

There is certainly some elegant simplicity in just looking at TEU volumes when comparing individual Ports’ performances.  And, with respect to questions of market share and competitiveness, TEU volumes are so critical to that analysis as to be nearly the only statistic worth looking at to make any such arguments.  But, looking at the portfolio of accomplishments of the nation’s largest intermodal trade gateway from year to year, taking into account efficiency improvements and air quality improvements in addition to volumes, the evidence is indisputable:  2024 was a more productive year for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach than the record year of 2021.