California ports among the least efficient in the world

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California handle the most ocean cargo of all U.S. ports, but are some of the least efficient in the world, according to a ranking by the World Bank and IHS Markit.

In a review of 351 container ports worldwide, Los Angeles ranked 328th, behind Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The adjacent port of Long Beach ranked even lower, at 333rd, behind Turkey’s Nemrut Bay and Kenya’s Mombasa Bay, the groups said in their inaugural Container Port Performance Index, released in May.

The total number of ships waiting to unload out of the two adjacent ports reached a new all-time high of 100 on Monday. Purchases of imported goods by Americans have soared to levels that the U.S. supply chain infrastructure cannot support, leading to delays and delivery bottlenecks.

In the rankings, the top port was Japan’s Yokohama and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. Rounding out the top five were Chiwan, part of the port of Shenzhen in Guangdong province; the port of Guangzhou in southern China; and the port of Kaoshiung in Taiwan.

Ports in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa dominated the top 50, while only four U.S. ports cracked the top 100: Philadelphia (83rd), the Port of Virginia (85th), New York and New Jersey (89th) and Charleston, South Carolina (95th).

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted trade around the world, hindering commerce and exposing the fragility of a supply chain built for the predictable and just-in-time movement of goods.

The United States is the world’s largest consumer, importing some $2.5 trillion worth of goods annually. President Joe Biden is scrambling for massive federal funding to modernize ailing infrastructure, including seaports. Government control, 24/7 operations and automation help make many non-U.S. ports more efficient.

Biden is pushing port executives, union leaders and major retailers like Walmart to attack transportation obstacles that drive up the price of goods and increase the risk of product shortages during the important holiday season.

Southern California port executives are trying to convince terminal operators, importers, truckers, railroads, dockworkers and warehouse owners to adopt 24/7 operations in an attempt to eliminate bottlenecks that have delayed dozens of ships on the high seas and deliveries to stores and e-commerce fulfillment centers.