In a statement describing the move, the shipping giant highlighted the fact that southern California ports are suffering from severe congestion. The company added that freight movement has dramatically slowed across all modes of transport, leading to exceptionally long container dwell times.
Therefore, CMA CGM has introduced an incentive that will be provided to the importers that pick up their containers via merchant haulage. The rebates apply to containers at all the terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach in the first eight days, with the intent that they will use the cash to offset costs incurred by tensions on their supply chains.
The incentive will be:
- 100 USD per container for daytime pickup from Monday to Friday;
- 200 USD per container at night and on weekends.
According to CMA CGM, the commitment costs could exceed 22 million dollars over 90 days.
In another announcement, CMA CGM revealed it would financially support the Fenix Marine Services terminal in expanding their hours of operation so that containers can be picked up day and night 7 days per week.
Commenting on the announcement, Ed Aldridge, President of CMA CGM and APL North America, said:
“The CMA CGM Group is committed to doing everything we can to assist in improving overall supply chain velocity in southern California. By incentivizing the movement of containers off the terminals and ensuring pickups can be made on nights and weekends at FMS, we will decrease truck turn times and expedite the flow of goods into the United States. This is just one more way we are working with our port partners and the Biden-Harris Supply Chain Task Force to ensure shelves are full and Americans have access to the vital items they need on a daily basis.”
Photo: National Renewable Energy Lab / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 (image cropped)