Market News

(Bloomberg) -- One of the world’s biggest ocean carriers is dangling incentives of as much as $200 a container for help in clearing the backlog at Southern California’s ports.

CMA CGM Group said it will offer importers $100 for each container removed from terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach during daytime hours and within the first eight days of arrival. Pickups during nighttime and weekend hours get a $200 incentive per container, the Marseille, France-based carrier said in a release on Monday.

The program starts Wednesday and will last for 90 days, potentially costing CMA CGM Group more than $22 million over the period, it said. The company also said it will assist Fenix Marine Services, which operates a terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, in expanding its hours of operation to support round-the-clock container pickups. 

CMA CGM is the first ocean liner to offer such an incentive, according to Port of Los Angeles spokesman Phillip Sanfield. 

Last month, the hubs of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which jointly handle more cargo than any other U.S. ports, said they would levy a surcharge of $100 per container for boxes waiting nine days or longer for truck transport or three or more for rail transport. The levy would increase in $100 increments each day. However, the ports have since delayed implementing the fee, although Sanfield said an announcement on it is expected later on Monday.