Breaking

Rail Congestion Deepens at LA-Long Beach as Container Volumes Hit Near Records

Rail-bound container dwell times rose to 6.41 days, marking continued pressure on inland intermodal operations at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex. The gateway processed near-record volumes of 1.88 million twenty-foot equivalent units in August, sustaining robust import, export and transshipment activity. Truck-destined cargo maintained stable performance below three days. Local drayage operations moved containers efficiently to regional warehouses and distribution centers. Truck dwell remained relatively fluid despite high cargo throughput. In contrast, Class I carriers Union Pacific and BNSF serving the ports saw extended rail holding periods. Rail containers remained at terminals for nearly a week on average before departure. This divergence reveals capacity constraints in inland rail operations. The performance gap underscores ongoing questions about intermodal network efficiency as ports navigate sustained traffic flows.