There are two issues that are combining to impact operations at the West Coast ports. The expired labor contract with the Longshoremen and the high volume of containers in preparation for the holiday season have resulted in severe delays at the terminals. The ports have been heavily impacted with terminal congestion, chassis dislocations, late and slow vessel discharge, and driver shortages. Many terminals and most trucking companies are assessing congestion surcharges to cover the increased costs.
Aloha Freight Forwarders is affected like any other trucker that must use the harbor. However, Aloha has an advantage because we exclusively use Matson. Matson has been able to avoid some of the issues since they operate their own terminal, and they are handling mostly domestic traffic. We have experienced only minor delays or increases in our dwell time. Aloha Freight is not charging a congestion fee.
We will continue to monitor the situations. The congestion, equipment shortage and stressed labor situation is serious. We will notify our customers if it impacts the freight they have entrusted to Aloha Freight Forwarders.
