In a dirt parking lot in Wilmington, Calif., A few blocks from the Port of Long Beach, Antonio Cortez oversees a crew loading cargo into the back of a semi-truck.

“This is the last crate he’s going to load on this truck,” he told Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal.

Cortez and his wife, Francia – both former truckers themselves – own a business called A&F Transportation. He’s one of almost 1,000 in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area doing something called dotting.

“We collect the containers from the port and take them to the warehouse or where they are going to be unloaded,” Cortez said. “It’s the factage.”

“So once it’s in that truck going to Texas, are you done?” Ryssdal asked. “I’m done,” he said.

About 40% of US container imports arrive through the ports of LA and Long Beach. But before these containers go to their final destination, specialist truckers like those employed by A&F Transportation must get them out of the port complex.

It is an essential link between you and the products you buy. But despite strong demand for A&F services as imports increase, Antonio Cortez said this has been a tough year for the company.

“It is more and more difficult every day to get a container out of the port,” he said. “There is a lot more business to be done, but I can’t get it. ”

As part of “Temporarily Unavailable,” our series on how things move – or don’t move – in the world, Ryssdal spoke with Cortez about issues facing his business.

The story is not just about “not enough truck drivers”

In news articles and comments from port officials, a nationwide shortage of truck drivers has been offered as a partial explanation for America’s shipping problems. But the “shortage” is nuanced.

For A&F Transportation, which has nine trucks in its fleet, the biggest problem is the inefficiency of the system, not the lack of drivers.

“Because the ports are backed up, they’re slower than usual and I can’t pull out as many loads with all nine drivers as I did before,” Cortez said.

In Facebook groups where people in the billing industry share information, drivers complain about long wait times at sea terminals where they pick up and drop off goods. “6 hours later,” wrote a driver in October as he sat in traffic of bumper-to-bumper trucks at a Long Beach marine terminal. “Been sitting in [Long Beach Container Terminal] for 3 hours, ”wrote another.

Since A&F Transportation drivers typically make multiple round trips to the port complex during the day, Cortez said, unpredictable wait times can disrupt an entire day’s schedule.

For example, let’s say a driver is scheduled for an 8:00 am pickup and a 10:00 am pickup. “If one of them gets stuck [for] two, three, four or five hours, we just missed this 10 o’clock meeting, ”he said. “And it’s snowballing.”

Cortez said hiring an additional driver or two would make his life easier, but it wouldn’t solve the underlying problem. “I can’t find any at the moment, so in theory, yes there is a shortage of pilots, but if the ports worked as before, we could do with the pilots that we have now,” he said. declared.

Empty containers are a big deal

Because the United States imports more than it exports, about 60% of containers leave major US ports empty. According to a MarketWatch analysis, that number is up 46.2% from 2020.

But A&F Transportation and other carriers say it has become difficult to find return locations and secure appointments to return empty containers.

“For example, we have two containers here in our yard that have been there for about two months,” said Pamela Cortez, daughter of Antonio and Francia, who recently joined the family business as a member of the team. shipping. “According to the steamboat line, there are usually no points of return. “

Industry insiders say the problem comes down to a lack of storage space at marine terminals due to a massive increase in imports during the pandemic.

According to new data from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, 2021 retail imports are expected to be 18% higher than in 2020, despite supply chain challenges.

“It affects us here because I can’t bring anything more into the court,” Antonio said. “I had containers that I said to my clients, ‘I can’t pick them up, because I can’t bring them here, because they don’t fit, because I can’t get rid of them. of these voids. ‘”

This could impact downstream consumer prices

Steamship lines typically give carriers five days to return empty containers. After that, they are charged a daily fee until the container is returned.

A&F said it has received stacks of bills for per diem on containers that it cannot physically return due to a lack of appointments. These charges increase shipping costs for A&F customers, which could ultimately impact the prices consumers pay.

“We have to reach out to the customers and say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to help us either by trying to challenge it or by agreeing to pay the fee,'” said Pamela Cortez.

On the import side, there is another set of charges called demurrage charges for containers that are not picked up quickly enough.

“We can’t make an appointment to pick them up, and that forces them to be ‘demurrage’, which customers have to pay for,” Pamela said.

In October, a record 46.9% of containers arriving at ports in LA and Long Beach waited more than five days to be picked up by truck.

“A lot of people might not get it and say, ‘Truckers just don’t want to take out the containers,’ but it’s not that easy,” said Antonio Cortez. “There is a limit to what I can do … because I [only] we have so many trucks, so much equipment, so much land, ”he said.

“It must be driving you crazy,” Ryssdal said.

“Yes it does,” Cortez replied.