SIMIC

The carrier will reduce import container dwell time from 14 days to nine at Los Angeles and Long Beach and at choked-up New York-New Jersey terminals.

From this week, Maersk will begin transferring containers dwelling for nine or more days that are customs cleared and have no appointment confirmed for pickup at the terminals.

Maersk may also include containers with confirmed delivery appointments in situations where the appointments have been routinely missed or cancelled.

"Unfortunately, persistent congestion continues to impact operations in our key Los Angeles/Long Beach and Newark/Elizabeth gateways," Maersk said.

"However, average dwell times remain excessive across the United States, so we feel it's important to do more to free up capacity and improve productivity in our marine terminals so we can provide a more reliable service," it said.

Containers trucked to Maersk designated off-dock locations in the Pacific southwest and New Jersey can only be made available on a "Last-In-First-Out" (LIFO) basis.

Consequently Maersk asks shippers to take delivery of most urgent loads within the first seven-days after discharge to avoid potential delays in a 'peel off' stack.