Port of LA cargo rail congestion hits two-year high ahead of holidays [Video]

Record imports over the last several months at West Coast ports, driven by the recent East Coast and Gulf Coast strike diversions and ongoing Red Sea issues, are leading to congestion on the rails, as holiday goods and everyday items pile up.

Almost half of the containers bound by freight rail out of the Port of Los Angeles are waiting nine-plus days to get out of the port and onto the rail.

Before the August and September container surges, the average rail dwell time, or how long a container sits at port, for the San Pedro Basin, which includes the Port of LA and Long Beach, was four days.

In September, the Port of Los Angeles moved a total of 954,706 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, making the month its best September ever. At the port’s monthly cargo briefing Friday, Executive Director Gene Seroka told CNBC there are currently 20,000 rail containers sitting at the port …