TMF at ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to increase 4% on November 1, 2023
The West Coast MTO Agreement (WCMTOA) announced that on November 1, 2023, the Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will increase by 4%. The adjustment matches the combined 4% increase in longshore wage and assessment rates recently ratified in the coastwide contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, Business Wire reports.
Beginning November 1, the TMF will be $35.57 per TEU or $71.14 per forty-foot container. The TMF is charged on non-exempt containers. Containers exempt from the TMF include empty containers; import cargo or export cargo that transits the Alameda Corridor in a container and is subject to a fee imposed by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority; and transshipment cargo. Empty chassis and bobtail trucks are also exempt.
The OffPeak program provides regularly scheduled night or weekend shifts to handle trucks delivering and picking up containers at the 12 container terminals in the two adjacent ports. PierPASS launched the OffPeak program in 2005 to reduce severe cargo-related congestion and air pollution on local streets and highways around the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. More than 57 million truck trips have been diverted to the off-peak shifts since the program’s inception. The container terminal operators mitigate truck traffic at their gates with appointment systems.
The TMF helps offset the cost of operating extended gate hours. Labor costs are the largest single component of extended gate costs.
According to an analysis by maritime industry consultants SC Analytics, the net costs incurred by the terminals to operate the off-peak shifts in 2022 totaled $324 million. During that year, the terminals received $295 million from the TMF to operate off-peak gates.
About PierPASS
PierPASS is a not-for-profit company created by marine terminal operators at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach to address multi-terminal issues such as congestion, air quality and security. The West Coast Marine Terminal Operator Agreement (WCMTOA) is filed with the Federal Maritime Commission, and comprises the 12 international MTOs serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.
