The fee, proposed by President Biden’s supply chain “task force”, was to have been introduced yesterday, as part of a package of measures to reduce congestion at the west coast container gateway.

According to a report in Maritime Executive: “Since the fee was announced on 25 October, the ports reported a combined 26% decline in ageing cargo on the docks. Before the pandemic-induced import surge began in mid-2020, on average, containers for local delivery remained on container terminals fewer than four days, while containers destined for trains dwelled fewer than two days. Both ports have experienced significant increases with the surcharges targeting rail containers after three days and containers travelling by trailer over nine days.”