Shipping Tip: U.S. Imports & Exports of Commercial Goods For both U.S. imports & exports of commercial goods, U.S. Customs requires you provide a copy of your commercial invoice and packing list which specifies quantity of item(s), description of merchandise, weight and value.

Increasing container dwell times are taking a toll at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, further exacerbating congestion at the busiest U.S. port complex. Truck turn times in October were the worst on record in Los Angeles-Long Beach, even though container volume growth was modest. Val Noronha, president of Digital Geographic Research, tracks…

In an effort to beat back congestion that has paralyzed the Southern California port complex, the Port of Long Beach in two weeks will open a temporary 30-acre site for empty containers aimed at freeing up chassis. The temporary depot — to be operated by Pasha Stevedoring and Terminals — is on vacant, undeveloped property on…

Non-vessel-operating common carriers are working to reroute U.S. outbound shipments away from congested West Coast ports, providing exporters, particularly those shipping time-sensitive perishables, an alternative to their containers sitting on docks for days. CaroTrans, for example, on Thursday announced it can reroute export shipments via the Port of Houston and U.S. East Coast ports. Specifically,…

Evergreen is dropping Los Angeles and Oakland port calls from a westbound U.S. East Coast to North Asia service due to berthing delays tied to the congestion at U.S. West Coast ports, the carrier said Friday. “These changes are necessary to preserve schedule integrity,” Evergreen said in a customer advisory. The last westbound NUE vessel calling…

As predicted earlier this week, go-slows at US west coast ports have now spread to southern California, with up to 80% of container handling capacity on the coast now in danger of being affected. The west coast terminal employers’ body, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), yesterday said that dockworkers’ union the ILWU had begun refusing to…

The port of Long Beach said its truck turn times have been better than those at Los Angeles for at least four months. Truck turn times at Long Beach tracked closely with turn times at Los Angeles in the first half of the year, HTA reported. From January through March, Long Beach turn times were…