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Call Us 24/7/365
+1 (818) 600-0008AEEM Shipping runs container drayage, transloading, and port-to-door freight out of all six
Port of Long Beach terminals. We run same-day pulls, track your Last Free Day, book appointments,
and clear the fees that stall containers, so your cargo leaves the dock before the charges start.
The Port of Long Beach moved a record 9,881,595 TEUs in 2025, its busiest year in a 115 year history. Imports reached 4.78 million TEUs. For the first time, five of the port's six container terminals each handled more than 1 million TEUs, and two processed over 2 million. Long Beach now carries 48.9 percent of all cargo moving through San Pedro Bay.
That volume is why importers choose Long Beach, and it is also why containers get stuck there. Appointment slots fill on peak vessel discharge days. Chassis supply tightens. Free time runs out faster than published tariffs suggest. AEEM is headquartered 30 miles from the terminals, and our dispatch works the port every day. We know which terminal changed its gate procedure last quarter, which fee increased this August, and how to get your box out before any of it costs you money.
Every Long Beach terminal runs its own appointment system, gate procedure, and operational quirks. Here is where your container actually lands.
Pier A. The northernmost terminal, berths A88 through A96: three active berths on 3,600 feet of wharf, ten cranes, and eight on-dock rail tracks covering 14,000 feet. Handles CMA CGM and Ocean Alliance services. Closest terminal to the Alameda Corridor throat and the 710 on-ramps, one of the fastest exits at the complex when slots are booked early.
Pier C. Dedicated Hawaii, Guam, and Pacific island services on Matson's fixed weekly schedule. The smallest footprint and fastest gate at the port for its trade lane, with containers available quickly after discharge and the most consistent turn times at the complex. If your freight moves to or from Hawaii, this is the terminal.
Piers E & F. The most advanced terminal on the West Coast: 300 acres, semi-automated with a 3.3 million TEU annual capacity, berths 22 through 26 on 4,200 feet of wharf, and the deepest dockside on the U.S. Pacific Coast at 60 feet alongside. Primary OOCL and COSCO gateway. Import appointments release at noon daily, and slots on peak vessel days go fast.
Pier G. A 246 acre terminal and a Long Beach fixture since 1971, the first in Southern California to run on-dock double-stack rail and the first at the port with shore power. Primarily serves Yang Ming and Wan Hai. Runs eModal with Advanced Reservation Requests bookable up to five days before vessel arrival, plus pre-cleared hazmat handling that keeps prepped drivers out of the trouble window.
Pier J. SSA-operated with COSCO ownership interest: 256 acres, five berths on 5,902 feet of wharf, 14 gantry cranes, and 685 reefer plugs, making it the terminal to know for temperature-controlled imports. On-dock rail holds 114 railcars. Standard eModal flow, dual transaction friendly, which lets dispatch pair an empty return with a loaded pull in one trip.
Pier T. The port's largest terminal: 385 acres, 5,000 feet of berth, 16 cranes, majority owned by MSC. The strongest on-dock rail on the West Coast, with 12 working tracks building 10,000 foot trains. The gate runs on a verbal eModal Gate Code instead of a paper ticket, and RFID readers on Hanjin Road give the terminal real-time queue visibility.
Terminal appointments carry a 30 minute leeway window on either side of the slot. Miss it and the truck gets turned away. Our dispatch books slots the moment they open on peak discharge days and pairs import pulls with empty returns as dual transactions to keep costs down. Beyond the container terminals, Pier B serves as the port's rail staging hub, currently expanding from 12 to 48 tracks to handle 10,000 foot trains, part of the port's push to move 35 percent of containers by on-dock rail. More on-dock rail means fewer truck moves competing for the same gates, and it's why intermodal routing through Long Beach keeps getting stronger.
Import free time at Long Beach starts at 3:00 a.m. after your container comes off the vessel. Published free time typically runs four to seven calendar days depending on the terminal and steamship line tariff, but the operational window is usually shorter. Since September 1, 2022, under Port of Long Beach Tariff No. 4, weekends no longer pause the clock. Appointment scarcity, terminal congestion, and customs or carrier holds all eat days you thought you had.
Once the Last Free Day passes, demurrage begins, typically $150 to $300 or more per container per day on an escalating tier, with rates set by the steamship line rather than the terminal. The tiers climb fast: the first few days past LFD bill at the base rate, then jump to $300, $400, and beyond as the container sits. A single box left five days past LFD can quietly run over $1,000, and on a ten container shipment that becomes a five figure invoice for cargo that already paid ocean freight.
Detention and per diem charges stack on top after the box leaves the terminal. Detention applies when the empty container is not returned to the carrier within its free days, and per diem accrues on the chassis for every day it stays under the box. These run on separate clocks from demurrage, so one delayed delivery can trigger all three at once. Reefer containers carry higher rates on every tier, plus plug fees while they sit powered at the terminal.
Our standard playbook: we track the vessel before arrival, monitor the container status until it flips to available, book the earliest appointment, and pull the box within the free time window. When delivery timing doesn't line up, we pre-pull to a local yard and stage the container, which stops the terminal clock entirely. Cheap yard storage always beats demurrage.
Two port-specific fees apply to nearly every loaded container at Long Beach. Both are billed per container and both change, so stale numbers cost real money.
Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF). Effective August 1, 2026, the TMF is $40.63 per TEU and $81.26 for all larger containers, a 4.77 percent increase set by the West Coast MTO Agreement to match longshore wage increases. The TMF funds the OffPeak program's night and weekend gates. Exempt: empty containers, cargo transiting the Alameda Corridor in a container subject to ACTA fees, transshipment cargo, empty chassis, and bobtail trucks. The fee posts as a hold against the container and must clear through the PierPass portal before pickup.
Clean Truck Fund (CTF) Rate. $10 per loaded TEU and $20 for larger containers when hauled by a conventional drayage truck. Zero-emission trucks are permanently exempt. Eligible low-NOx trucks hold a temporary exemption through December 31, 2027. The CTF is collected through PortCheck and funds the port's transition to a zero-emission drayage fleet by 2035.
Compliance underneath both fees: every drayage truck entering a Long Beach terminal must be enrolled in the Port Drayage Truck Registry and compliant with the CARB Drayage Truck Regulation. A non-registered truck cannot clear the gate. Every carrier in AEEM's Long Beach network is PDTR-registered and CARB-compliant before a load is ever tendered. Fee data on this page is verified against WCMTOA and port tariff publications and updated each August when rates adjust.
A Los Angeles–based drayage network built for speed, compliance, and visibility — from reefer cargo to overweight loads.
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Based at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with daily terminal runs, plus vetted capacity at Oakland, Houston, New York/New Jersey, and every other major U.S. port.
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Our operations team monitors every move, day or night, through digital dispatch and live tracking dashboards.
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Every quote includes fuel, chassis, and accessorial fees upfront. No hidden charges, no post-delivery surprises.
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Follow every container from terminal gate-out to final delivery with live status updates and automated ETA alerts.
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Our certified network handles hazardous, temperature-sensitive, and overweight freight under DOT and port compliance standards.
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Secure yard storage near the ports and pre-pull services help you avoid demurrage and detention fees when warehouse doors are full.
Chassis is the most underestimated cost line in Long Beach drayage. San Pedro Bay primarily runs on the shared Pool of Pools among the major intermodal equipment providers, which simplifies on-dock access but does not guarantee equipment availability or quality at every terminal every day. Under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, carriers and shippers can exercise chassis choice and select the provider when the cargo interest pays.
Matching the right chassis to the load matters as much as finding one. Standard 20 foot and 40 foot chassis cover most dry container moves. When a container runs above legal road weight, typically past 44,000 pounds of cargo in a 20 foot box or 44,500 in a 40 foot, it needs a tri axle chassis to distribute the load legally, in both 20 foot and 40 foot configurations. Heavy 20 footers are the usual offenders, since dense cargo like tile, metal, and machinery hits the weight ceiling long before the box is full. Booking the tri axle before the container discharges avoids the scramble that turns an overweight pull into a missed appointment and a demurrage day.
AEEM manages chassis sourcing as part of the move: we confirm availability before dispatch, match standard or tri axle equipment to the manifest weight, use carrier-owned chassis where it protects the schedule, and flag chassis splits before they turn into a second truck trip on your invoice.
Straight answers on drayage, trucking, and warehousing across the Port of Long Beach
As of August 1, 2026, the Traffic Mitigation Fee is $40.63 per TEU and $81.26 for all larger container sizes, set by the West Coast MTO Agreement. Empty containers, Alameda Corridor rail cargo, transshipment cargo, empty chassis, and bobtails are exempt. The fee must be paid through the PierPass portal before the container can be picked up.
The Clean Truck Fund Rate is $10 per loaded TEU and $20 for containers larger than 20 feet when hauled by a conventional drayage truck. Zero-emission trucks are permanently exempt, and eligible low-NOx trucks are exempt through December 31, 2027. The fee is collected through PortCheck.
Published free time typically runs four to seven calendar days depending on the terminal and steamship line tariff, starting at 3:00 a.m. after the container is discharged from the vessel. Weekends count against free time under Port of Long Beach Tariff No. 4. The practical window is often shorter once appointment availability and holds are factored in, which is why AEEM tracks the Last Free Day from the moment the vessel berths.
Six container terminals: Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) at Piers E and F, Total Terminals International (TTI) at Pier T, International Transportation Service (ITS) at Pier G, Pacific Container Terminal (PCT) at Pier J, SSA Terminals at Pier A, and Matson at Pier C. Each runs its own appointment system and gate procedures, and AEEM dispatches to all six.
Yes. Every carrier in AEEM's Long Beach network is enrolled in the Port Drayage Truck Registry and compliant with the CARB Drayage Truck Regulation, which is required for terminal entry. We verify compliance before any load is tendered.
AEEM Shipping is an FMCSA-licensed freight broker and forwarder, which means your container is not limited to one company's fleet. We dispatch across a vetted network of CARB-compliant, PDTR-registered drayage carriers at all six terminals, so when peak season tightens capacity, your box still moves. One dispatch team, one point of contact, scalable trucks.
