The new ship queuing process at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, that applies since November 16, has created a safer and more environmentally sound system, according to Captain Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California.
This new process for containerships bound for US’s two busiest container ports will have ships waiting at least 150 miles from shore, instead of anchorages and loitering areas closer to the coast.
The 150-mile boundary will apply only to eastbound ships, while northbound/southbound ships must remain more than 50 miles from shore.
What is more, each ship will be assigned a place in the arrival queue based on their departure time from their last port of call, rather than the current system which has ships entering the queue based on when they cross a line 20 nautical miles from the San Pedro Bay Port Complex.
In an update on the Exchange’s Facebook page, Captain Louttit said that:
The backup continues but vessels loitering in SoCal Waters are happily decreasing per the new container vessel queuing system that is spreading the ships out through the Pacific and enabling slow-speed-steaming, increasing safety and air quality
Under the new process, vessels will also be prohibited from operating in the so-called “Safety and Air Quality Area,” designed to limit the number of containerships near the port complex.