Ports of New York and New Jersey Tighten Container Imbalance Fee

It is no surprise that the United States currently imports more goods than it exports. This leads to more full containers coming in than going out. Because empty containers do not see an immediate economic gain, oftentimes shipping companies will wait before sending them across the ocean to get filled again. This causes logistical problems at ports, and so the Port of New York and Port of New Jersey are tightening the screws on the fee of keeping empty containers so that they may finally be shipped instead.

Details

Imagine you are trying to return a dryage shipping container now that its contents have been shipped to its final destination, but you cannot because the entire port is filled to the brim with other truckers doing the same. The issue often mirrors the truck parking crisis, where in both cases, truckers need to spend an unreasonable amount of time looking for an empty spot.

Both the Port of New York and Port of New Jersey say that if companies are going to do this, there has to be a fee to accompany it. From their own words (effective May 1st, 2026, page 62):

“Port efficiency and productivity is dependent on there being sufficient terminal space to accommodate all import demand, while ensuring that a trucker can return an empty container within the contractually required time. Ocean carriers must therefore proactively and regularly manage their inventory of empty containers on the Marine Terminals and nearby depots to ensure fluidity. The Port Authority may impose a container imbalance fee on Ocean Carriers for an excessive imbalance of containers at port facilities to compensate the Port Authority for services rendered to maintain good order and efficient operations and to mitigate the negative effects on other port facility users from accumulated empty containers. The proceeds of the container imbalance fee will be used to offset the costs (including staff costs) of providing additional storage capacity, managing public safety (including the costs of additional security services provided by the Port Authority Police Department) and managing the heavy truck volume which results from the accumulation of empty containers at port facilities and in the region. The container imbalance fee is also expected to provide a reasonable financial incentive to Ocean Carriers to manage their logistics operations to reduce the volume of idle cargo containers at the port.”

Conclusion

Previously the twin ports said that they may reinstate this fee if the empty container backlog was not resolved, now it has become a will.

While the amount charged itself is not increased from the previous time it was instated, the number of times the fee is run has been increased from once a year to twice a year. A shrewd ocean carrier could previously keep a container on the premises from January 1st to December 30th and not pay a penny in imbalance fees while enforcement was in place; the change to twice a year means that to avoid a fee a carrier has half the time to evacuate the empty containers from the premises.

Ultimately, this is great news for truckers who work next to the ocean in the Empire State and the Garden State, as it means ocean carrier companies will now have stronger motivation to clear space for new empty shipping containers, cutting down the time truckers spend at the port and getting on to their next delivery.

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