Florida's Port of Jacksonville is offering available berths to containerships that are waiting at anchorage to offload at other US ports that became congested amid Covid-19 disruption.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the most backed-up ports in the country, leaving 77 boxships laden with goods from China stranded in San Pedro Bay as of Monday.
"Our port workers, terminal operators and service providers have shown the world that Jaxport is a solution to the nation's port congestion problem," Port of Jacksonville chief executive Eric Green said in a statement.
The port announced on Monday that no vessels waited at anchorage during the pandemic, despite taking in a record 1.4m teu of cargo during fiscal 2021, ended 30 September.
"In addition, the port offers available berth and terminal capacity to easily accommodate vessels displaced by congestion at other US ports," it said.
Earlier this month, Hapag-Lloyd said it planned to temporarily reroute a European container service to the Port of Jacksonville to adapt to market needs.
Maersk may expand its US East Coast port calls to avoid the congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The port plans to deepen its shipping channel by two metres to 14.3 metres and complete $200m in berth improvements to allow Blount Island to handle two post-panamaxes and more containers.
It also expects to ban cruise traffic, which accounts for 8% of vessel traffic, to at least the end of February.
