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By Alex Lennane
The Port of Long Beach’s chief executive tackled head on the issues facing the port in his first “State of the port” address last week. Noting that congestion could be improved with new technology, he acknowledged that the Los Angeles ports had faced a “perfect storm”. “Everything went sideways very fast,” he said. But he added that the port was facing up to its problems and that there was a “new vision and a new direction for our port”. A new vision won’t help shippers whose goods are stuck now. This article reveals the dire straits and high costs some cargo owners are facing owing to the west coast port congestion.