LOS ANGELES — Cargo ships waiting to unload amid a supply chain crisis have been pushed even farther out to sea, this time to avoid missile blasts from U.S. Navy training exercises along the Southern California coast.
The number of ships anchored offshore swelled last fall to more than 100 as U.S. and port officials have scrambled largely in vain to clear the backlog. But they have been pushed further and further away from shore, and now, only those cleared to dock within 72 hours are permitted within 50 miles, said Capt. J. Kipling Louttit with the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which coordinates shipping traffic and piloting vessels into port.
“The military is shooting missiles and guns six days a week,” Louttit said. “We needed to spread the ships out, so we had to skip over the area. We now have them 150 miles offshore of Southern California. They are waiting along the Mexican coast and as far away as the Panama Canal.”
Louttit provided a map of incoming ships, with a huge cluster off the coast of Mexico. Crews aboard ships waiting to be called into shore must agree not to disembark in foreign countries or they lose their place in line.
LAZY CRANE OPERATORS MAKE $250K A YEAR EXACERBATING PORT CRISIS, TRUCKERS SAY
As of Wednesday, the ship logjam is at 101, with another 63 on the way.
The Navy owns two islands off the Southern California coast that are used as training facilities to launch airstrikes and practice amphibious assaults. San Clemente Island is 68 miles from San Diego, and San Nicolas Island is 65 miles from the Point Mugu Naval Air Station in Ventura County, north of Los Angeles. The latter is the former Pacific Missile Test Center, built during WWII, and is protected from sightseers by an off-limits rectangular area of ocean around the island.
San Clemente Island is more open to marine traffic, so the Navy notifies the Coast Guard of missile launches to make sure no ships stray into the area during that time. Notable events include an amphibious assault vehicle that sank off San Clemente Island in 2020, drowning nine service members. That same year, an air nuclear missile launched from a submerged submarine. Then, last year, the Navy conducted battle exercises with a fleet of unmanned ships, submarines, and aircraft.
“It’s not just open water out there,” Louttit said of Southern California. “It got too crowded. When you have F-35s coming in at Mach 1 firing a missile, that is a wide area they need.”
When the number of ships peaked at 80 during the late summer, port officials knew they had to do something. Ship captains had been checking in and waiting in their ocean parking lot for a chance to dock. Now, they email before leaving China and other far-flung destinations because some would rather wait for a few weeks off Cabo San Lucas than Orange County.
“The Navy has been very appreciative. We haven’t had any problems,” Louttit said. “This was completely industry-driven, and we have to solve our own problem and not wait for an incident to happen before we take action.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The mandate has even extended to the port of Oakland, where ships now wait at least 50 miles offshore unless they are docking within three days.
