The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Friday announced they plan on extending their operating hours at truck gates in an effort to reduce a massive backlog of containers plugging up retail, manufacturing, and agricultural supply chains. According to Freightwaves the plan would be for drayage trucks to retrieve and return containers at night. The port is also in the process of putting together a weekend gate program that will operate on a trial basis, named Accelerate Cargo LA.

What’s left unanswered is who would bear the cost, and how will the extra access be carried out. American Shipper  spoke with Long Beach Deputy Director Noel Hacegaba who said the initiative is designed to cover the hours between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. PDT. They plan to provide details early next week about how the new programs will work and be paid for.

The alternative is to pre-pull containers to a secure storage yard, but that is more expensive as it requires two truck moves and extra days of chassis leasing. Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition says throwing up night gates with little notice, makes it impossible for truckers to plan their days within hours-of-service- limits. If there were universal regular extended hours, carriers and warehouses would be able to plan their operations better.

Port authorities say they will steadily promote the off-peak gates to shippers and work closely with the trucking community to ensure drivers understand how to take advantage of non-peak times. Now, realistically how much of an impact will this have on the backlog of containers? The answer remains to be seen but it is an important first start in addressing these issues.