Shipping Containers From Stranded Ships Abandoned in California Neighborhoods

Shipping containers wait to be transferred from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Oct. 14, 2021. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Shipping containers stranded for weeks at sea are now reportedly being abandoned in California neighborhoods.

Anaheim Street in Los Angeles has become one of the locations where an overflow of empty containers now line local streets, as nearby UCTI Trucking deals with more than they can handle under the local port’s 24/7 operations.

“It’s a bunch of neighbors that are very upset because it’s a non-stop issue,” local resident Sonia Cervantes told CBSLA. Cervantes also said a container had blocked her car at one point.

UCTI Trucking owner Frank Arrieran addressed the situation, as the company experiences massive overflow to its usual 65 container spaces.

“Right now with the ports and everything that’s going on over there we’re stuck with the containers, having to bring them all to the yard, and we only have so much space,” Arrieran told CBSLA.

Arrieran hopes to strike a deal with local officials to access more space to meet the growth in operations.

As of Tuesday, 100 container ships were reportedly waiting to unload in the Los Angeles Port. Industry leaders claim the backlogs are partly due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The growing supply chain issues have led some to label it a crisis. Republicans have spoken out for more from the Department of Transportation, while President Joe Biden addressed plans to improve shipping.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said there “is more that the Department of Transportation can and should be doing to help address ongoing supply chain issues related to the pandemic,” in a statement to the Washington Examiner last week.

The supply chain crisis led Biden to make new announcements last week to address congestion at some of America’s ports.

“After weeks of negotiation and working with my team and with the major union and retailers and freight movers, the Ports of Los Angeles—the Port of Los Angeles announced today that it’s going to be—begin operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” Biden announced.

“This follows the Port of Long Beach’s commitment to 24/7 that it announced just weeks ago,” he added.

Biden called the effort a “first key step” to improving the nation’s supply chain.

The president’s speech also announced the expansion of shipping companies to meet the growing demands.

“Additionally, FedEx and UPS, two of our nation’s biggest freight movers, are committing today to significantly increase the amount of goods they are moving at night. FedEx and UPS are the shippers for some of our nation’s largest stores, but they also ship for tens of thousands of small businesses all across America,” he added.