Shipping congestion at Los Angeles ports shows signs of easing

Shipping congestion outside the biggest U.S. gateway for imports from Asia showed signs of easing over the past week as dockworkers made progress reducing by almost half a backlog that peaked at 40 vessels six weeks ago.

Twenty-two container ships were waiting to offload at the adjacent ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles as of Sunday, compared with 29 a week earlier, according to officials who monitor marine traffic in Southern California’s San Pedro Bay. Thirteen more are scheduled to arrive over the next three days, with nine of those set to drop anchor.

The average wait for berth space was 7.6 days, little changed from 7.5 days a week ago, according to the L.A. port.