28 Nov When Hanjin Bankruptcy Hit, the Port of Long Beach Acted
Deal struck to deal with chassis shortage in Southern California
The Port of Long Beach offers a lot to our customers — competitive advantages such as our unmatched time to market, modern facilities and forward-thinking infrastructure plans. This month, I’d like to talk about the proactive steps we take for you when a crisis like the Hanjin bankruptcy hits.
When Hanjin declared bankruptcy on Aug. 31, we stayed in close contact with the company’s subsidiary terminal here, Total Terminals International (TTI). As soon as the courts would allow, we offloaded the Hanjin ships bound for Long Beach to ensure goods like your footwear could make it to stores in time for the holidays. But we soon noticed containers, once emptied, were sitting around Southern California and the port complex, tying up valuable chassis. There were no Hanjin ships available or other carriers willing to take the boxes back to Asia.
What did we do? We partnered with TTI to charter a ship specifically to reposition up to 4,300 empty containers back to Asia.
The benefit was felt throughout the region immediately. TTI began accepting empty Hanjin containers from container-leasing companies, freeing up every chassis that dropped off a container and putting it back to work in the system. Think about how valuable each chassis is to the work we all do during peak season.
TTI was generous enough to load the ship at cost, while the Port waived its fee for access to the Port’s terminal. We are thankful to them for their cooperation and felt this was a fair deal to keep goods moving through the ports in Southern California and ensure our customers can move their containers.
The Port of Long Beach prides itself on innovation and leadership, whether it’s in the progress we’ve made with environmental stewardship, or in finding solutions to the problems we encounter being a vital part of the supply chain at the No. 1 port complex in the United States.
Thank you for making Long Beach your gateway of choice, and Happy Holidays. We look forward to serving you next year.