San Pedro, California · West Coast
Port of Los Angeles container demurrage & detention dispute guide
The busiest US container port, with seven terminals, PierPass TMF, Port Optimizer data and appointment-only gates that shape every free time and per diem dispute.
- Authority
- Port of Los Angeles (City of Los Angeles Harbor Department)
- Volume
- 10.24 million TEU in calendar 2025 (Port of Los Angeles)
- Container terminals
- 7
The port at a glance
Los Angeles is the largest container gateway in the United States and the front door for transpacific imports headed to Southern California distribution centers and, by rail, to Chicago, Dallas and Memphis. Seven container terminals sit across Terminal Island, West Basin, Wilmington and Pier 400, each with its own gate schedule, appointment portal and empty return rules. Volume of this scale means a single bad week, a vessel bunching, a rail car shortage or a terminal that stops accepting a given carrier's empties, moves thousands of boxes past their LFD at once.
D&D exposure here usually starts with timing, not with the importer's own behavior. A container is discharged, the carrier's availability message says it is ready, but the terminal shows it buried, on a hold or with no open appointment slots before LFD. On the export and return side, truckers often find that the terminal named in the daily empty return list has stopped receiving that size or that carrier's equipment, and the box rides around on a chassis accruing per diem. Those are exactly the conditions the FMC's incentive principle in 46 CFR § 545.5 addresses: charges are meant to move cargo and equipment, not to penalize a billed party who could not act.
The common mistake is treating the carrier's availability date as fact. Importers pay demurrage counted from the EDI 315 availability event without checking whether a pickup appointment existed, whether a customs or freight hold was released, or whether the terminal was open. The second mistake is paying per diem invoices without matching them to the terminal's own empty return notices for each day billed. Both are recoverable, but only if the evidence is captured while the terminal data is still visible.
Container terminals
APM Terminals Pacific (Pier 400, Berths 401 to 406)
APM Terminals
Everport Terminal Services (Berths 226 to 236)
Everport Terminal Services
Fenix Marine Services (Berths 302 to 305)
Fenix Marine Services
TraPac Los Angeles (Berths 136 to 147)
TraPac · Automated terminal in Wilmington
Yusen Terminals (Berths 212 to 225)
Yusen Terminals
West Basin Container Terminal, China Shipping (Berths 100 to 103)
WBCT
West Basin Container Terminal, TiL (Berths 121 to 127)
WBCT
Appointments & empty returns
- Truck appointments are required at every terminal under the PierPass 2.0 program and are booked through each terminal's own appointment portal or eModal, depending on the terminal.
- The Port Optimizer portal, developed with Wabtec, publishes container status, vessel data and a Control Tower view of truck turn times across the San Pedro Bay terminals.
- Empty return locations and receiving restrictions are published daily by each terminal and carrier; they are not centralized in one booking system.
Chassis
Chassis come from lessor pools including DCLI's Direct ChassisLink Pool, TRAC Intermodal and Flexi-Van's FLXP pool, as the 2015 San Pedro Bay Pool of Pools unwound after Flexi-Van's legacy chassis exited on May 31, 2025.
Where D&D builds up at Los Angeles.
Appointment scarcity before LFD
Appointments are mandatory and released in blocks. When a terminal releases few import slots for a given day, a container can be available on paper while no lawful pickup is possible before LFD. Screenshot the appointment screen showing zero slots on the days you are billed.
Empty return restrictions
Terminals regularly stop accepting specific carriers' empties or specific sizes. Per diem keeps running while the box sits on a chassis in a yard. Daily empty return notices are the single best evidence for a detention relief request here.
PierPass TMF and shift structure
The Traffic Mitigation Fee applies to loaded import and export containers moving by truck, with empties and rail cargo exempt. Unpaid TMF can block release, so confirm whether a TMF hold, rather than the importer, delayed pickup before accepting demurrage.
Rail dwell for inland point intermodal
IPI containers wait on terminal for on-dock or near-dock rail. Demurrage billed on boxes moving under a through bill of lading where the carrier controls the rail move deserves a hard look at who caused the dwell.
Chassis pool changes
The San Pedro Bay Pool of Pools has been unwinding since 2025 as lessors moved to their own pools, so chassis availability now depends on which provider a trucker uses. Chassis shortages that block pickup belong in the evidence file.
Labor and weather disruptions
ILWU shift cancellations, terminal closures for high winds and holiday closures all suspend the ability to move cargo. Record each closure with the terminal's own notice and timestamp.
Free time and disputes at Los Angeles
Free time at Los Angeles is set by the ocean carrier's tariff or your service contract for carrier-billed demurrage and detention, and by the terminal operator's published schedule where the MTO bills storage directly. There is no single port-wide free time figure, so every invoice must state the allowed free time, its start and end dates and the specific tariff rule or contract section relied on, as 46 CFR § 541.6 requires. Check each of the 20 minimum elements, especially the container availability date and the specific dates charged.
Compare the availability date on the invoice with the terminal's own record. If the terminal shows a hold or no appointment availability on days the carrier counted as free time used, the billed days are disputable under the incentive principle. For per diem, match every billed day against the empty return notices for that carrier and size.
Timing rules apply to every invoice: the billing party must issue within 30 calendar days of the date the charge was last incurred (§ 541.7), and you get at least 30 calendar days from issuance to request mitigation, refund or waiver (§ 541.8). With seven terminals and a constant flow of invoices, these windows are easy to miss manually. ATAHSKIA's OSRA Audit Engine flags late or incomplete invoices on receipt, and Automated Disputes sends relief requests inside the window with the terminal evidence attached.
Los Angeles D&D FAQ
Does the Port of Los Angeles set container free time?
No single port-wide figure applies. Carrier demurrage and detention free time comes from the carrier's tariff or your service contract, and terminal storage comes from the MTO's schedule. The invoice must cite the specific rule or contract section relied on.
Can I dispute demurrage if there were no appointments before my LFD?
Yes. Under the FMC's incentive principle, charges assessed when cargo could not be picked up are a focus of review. Capture the terminal appointment screen for each billed day and submit a relief request within the § 541.8 window.
Is the PierPass TMF a demurrage charge?
No. The Traffic Mitigation Fee is a separate per-TEU fee on loaded truck moves at Los Angeles and Long Beach. It is not D&D, but a TMF hold can delay release, which matters when you check who caused billed demurrage days.
Audit your Los Angeles invoices.
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