Retailers are stuck between playing the ocean waiting game and ponying up for air cargo. The number of container ships in San Pedro Bay has hovered around 30 since the start of the year and levels remain stubbornly high. As of Wednesday, there were 31 at anchor. The CMA CGM Marco Polo — with a capacity of 16,022 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) — has been stuck at anchor the longest, since Feb. 27. The median time a container ship spent anchored outside the port last week was just over 7.5 days before it could head to berth.
