Long Beach Drayage Capacity Tightens as Asia Imports Surge 9.4%.
April TEU volumes through San Pedro Bay hit a near-record. With chassis pools running 92% utilization, intermodal ramps in the Inland Empire are the new bottleneck — and a leading indicator for May contract negotiations.
April TEU volumes through the San Pedro Bay complex closed within 1.8% of the all-time high set in October 2024. Asia-origin volumes are running 9.4% above April 2025. The drayage market is pricing it in.
The proximate constraint is chassis. Pool utilization at PierPass-participating terminals broke 92% on April 23 and hasn't dropped below 88% since. When chassis utilization runs that hot, every loaded container waiting for a chassis is an empty terminal slot — and every empty terminal slot is dwell time the importer is paying for. Drayage providers have responded by raising per-move rates 8–11% versus March benchmarks. Several major BCOs we spoke with have begun floating "chassis allocation premiums" into their May tender packages.