The House voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which if passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Joe Biden would herald the first rewriting of US shipping law since 1998.

With the number of anchored vessels already cut in half since September, the Port of Savannah is adding 400,000 TEU of capacity by Dec. 31 to the Garden City Terminal to further whittle down the backlog.

Trans-Pacific carriers are slowing their vessels en route to Los Angeles–Long Beach, but the reduction in vessels at anchor does not mean cargo volumes have in any way been diminished.

Many transportation executives, citing a highly fragile and capacity-constrained system and ongoing surprises tied to the unpredictable trajectory of the pandemic, are unwilling to declare the supply chain crisis has begun a period of sustained easing.

Eight vessels are now anchored off the Port of Charleston following the brief closure of a berth earlier this month and a stevedore labor shortage over the long Thanksgiving weekend.