Report: Freight Rail Delays Hit Two-year High at L.A., Long Beach

Freight is piling up at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, as freight rail delays hit a two-year high, owing to record levels of imports on the West Coast, as strikes and the Houthi threat have diverted East Coast shipping.

According to Seatrade Maritime News, traffic at the Port of Long Beach reached a record high in the third quarter of 2024: “The port credited the record volumes to holiday related goods demand as well as shippers diverting cargo to West Coast ports ahead of industrial action over a new labour contract at East Coast ports. The strike by dockworkers at East Coast only lasted three days from 1 October until tentative agreement was reached on wages.”

While the port has been running efficiently, however, the freight rail system has not. NBC News reported Friday:

Record imports over the last several months at West Coast ports, driven by the recent East Coast and Gulf Coast strike diversions and ongoing Red Sea issues, are leading to congestion on the rails, as holiday goods and everyday items pile up.

Almost half of the containers bound by freight rail out of the Port of Los Angeles are waiting nine-plus days to get out of the port and onto the rail.

Before the August and September container surges, the average rail dwell time, or how long a container sits at port, for the San Pedro Basin, which includes the Port of LA and Long Beach, was four days.

The delays could affect retail businesses and other industries, leading to supply chain problems.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg disappeared during the cargo crisis of 2021; he was on unannounced paternity leave.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.