Port Congestion Turns U.S. Regulatory Heat on Ocean Carriers

The last time a noticeable fleet of container ships was parked off the coast of Southern California, a labor dispute in 2015 had forced some three dozen vessels to drop anchor in a line visible from Newport Beach, 20 miles south of the docks in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

“The invasion of the retail goods,” said Weston LaBar, head of the Harbor Trucking Association, which represents the intermodal drivers who service the two ports that claim a 30% share of the U.S. market for global trade. “Swap out troops in Normandy and add knick-knacks and widgets, and that’s what it looked like.”