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Backlogged shipping containers getting dumped in port neighborhoods due to lack of space — and one crushes car after falling off truck
Image source: KCBS-TV video screenshot

Backlogged shipping containers getting dumped in port neighborhoods due to lack of space — and one crushes car after falling off truck

As backlogged cargo ships work their way through Los Angeles area ports operating around the clock to ease supply chain disruptions, KCBS-TV reported that shipping containers are being dumped in port neighborhoods once they're emptied because there's no space to store them anymore.

Image source: KCBS-TV video screenshot

What are the details?

UCTI Trucking Company's lot can store only 65 containers, the station said, so the excess containers due to the port logjam are being placed on residential streets — some right in front of homes.

Sonia Cervantes lives along Anaheim Street, as does UCTI, and she told KCBS a container was blocking her driveway, preventing her from leaving for work in the morning.

"With no driver in the trailer, so we would honk and honk, and it was just crazy," Cervantes told the station, adding that "they're sitting in the street for like 15, 20 minutes. Sometimes they just unload the [container] in the street with no front part of it, and they just leave it there."

UCTI Trucking owner Frank Arrieran acknowledged that his neighbors "are very upset because it's a non-stop situation" but that "right now with the ports and everything that's going on over there, we're stuck with the containers, having to bring them all to the yard, and we only have so much space," KCBS reported.

Arrerian told the station that "we've been messed with tickets and being harassed," and he's asking "the community to help us because we're only in the middle."

Container crushes car

The lack of space problem seemed to intensify Tuesday when a shipping container on a UCTI truck coming from the Port of Los Angeles fell off the truck and crushed a parked car, KCBS noted in a separate story.

There were no injuries in the accident on the corner of McFarland Avenue and Anaheim Street in Wilmington, the station said.

Authorities told KCBS that when the truck driver turned onto the street, the improperly attached container shifted, fell over, and crushed a black 2008 Honda Accord parked on the curb. The station said no one was in the car at the time.

More from KCBS:

Residents in the area have grown concerned about the influx of trucks and shipping containers in the neighborhood. Trucks over 6,000 pounds are prohibited in the area. A semi-truck carrying an empty container weighs around 8,000 pounds, however, the congestion at the ports has given shipping companies very few options. They are often forced to store containers waiting to be loaded onto ships on the street.

Anything else?

Arrieran said he hopes city officials can work out a way to get him more space in a bigger yard, the station said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday the Port of Los Angeles has reported that cargo on the dock for more than 13 days has been cut in half since moving to 24/7 operations last week, KCBS reported.

Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka added Tuesday that about 200,000 shipping containers remain on vessels anchored off the coast, the station said.

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