Weekly Drayage Roundup — Week of August 30th–September 5th, 2026

Transpacific rates rose, vessel delays rolled San Pedro Bay volume into next week’s forecast, the holiday weekend narrows pickup windows, and California diesel moved above $7.20. Here are six things on our radar.

1. Shanghai–LA rises 5%

Drewry’s composite World Container Index held at $4,465 per 40-foot container on September 3rd. The two transpacific lanes moved higher: Shanghai–Los Angeles rose 5% to $7,185, while Shanghai–New York increased 3% to $9,587. All rate moves are week over week. The flat composite masks the increases on both lanes.

2. Drewry revises the blank-sailing outlook

Last Thursday, Drewry counted seven transpacific blank sailings for that week and four for this week. The latest assessment counts three this week and six next week. The current-week count came in one below last week’s forecast, while the next-week outlook now carries three more skipped sailings than this week. Drewry expects rates to remain stable, citing resilient demand and continued carrier schedule management. Treat these counts as rolling schedule snapshots, not a straight-line capacity trend.

3. Vessel delays roll volume into next week

San Pedro Bay import forecast — Port of LA from Port Optimizer plus Port of Long Beach from CargoNav:

• This week (Aug 30th – Sep 5th): 209,678 TEU on 37 vessels — LA 112,283 on 19, Long Beach 97,395 on 18
• Next week (Sep 6th – 12th): 256,259 TEU on 44 vessels — LA 158,864 on 26, Long Beach 97,395 on 18
• Two weeks out (Sep 13th – 19th): 216,230 TEU on 39 vessels — LA 118,385 on 20, Long Beach 97,845 on 19

On the LA side alone, next week’s card is up 41.48% on the week and 29.06% year over year. That does not represent a clean wave of new demand. Vessel ETA delays are rolling containers from one forecast week into the next, creating an artificial surge in the weekly comparison. Read the three cards as a moving pipeline. CargoNav’s Long Beach figures remain a planning baseline: the projected imports are unchanged for the first two weeks before moving by 450 TEUs.

Port Optimizer showed 14 vessels at berth, no vessels within 40 nautical miles, and a 0.0-day average wait for berth. Its September full-day port-level truck turn-time totals were 60 minutes for Los Angeles and 55 minutes for Long Beach.

4. Six terminals open Saturday first shift

For September 5th–6th, read fresh from the terminal sites:

• Saturday first shift: APM, Everport, TraPac, LBCT, ITS, and TTI are open.
• Saturday second shift: APM only.
• Sunday first shift: APM and LBCT are open.
• Sunday second shift: APM only.
• Sunday third shift: APM only.

Fenix, Matson, PCT, Pier A, WBCT, and YTI are closed for both days. Everport, ITS, TraPac, and TTI are open Saturday first shift but closed Sunday. APM provides the broadest coverage, with first and second shifts open both days plus third shift Sunday.

5. PS8 shifts from YTI to ITS

ONE and Wan Hai have moved the PS8/AP2 Southern California call from Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles to ITS in Long Beach. The change took effect with WAN HAI 723 voyage 027E, scheduled to arrive September 3rd. The revised rotation is Qingdao, Ningbo, Long Beach, Oakland, and Qingdao. For drayage dispatch, confirm the pick up location on your delivery orders to avoid surprise demurrage charges.

6. California diesel moves above $7.20

On-highway diesel per gallon, per EIA’s August 31st print:

• U.S. national — $5.599 this week, $5.652 last week, $5.348 a month ago
• California — $7.218 this week, $7.040 last week, $6.716 a month ago

National diesel decreased 5.3 cents on the week, or 0.9%, but remains 25.1 cents above four weeks ago, a 4.7% increase. California rose 17.8 cents on the week, or 2.5%, and 50.2 cents over four weeks, or 7.5%. California’s premium widened to $1.619 from $1.388 the prior week.

In closing....

This week’s signals pull in different directions. Ocean rates rose, Drewry’s next-week blank-sailing outlook moved higher, and vessel delays rolled more than 46,000 TEU into next week’s port forecast. Weekend gates remain workable but narrow, and California diesel adds another layer of local cost pressure. All 12 container terminals are closed Monday, September 7th, for Labor Day so plan the shorter gate calendar carefully.

That’s the week. See you next Friday.

— Whisk Logistics

Questions on how this hits your lanes? Send us a DM on LinkedIn or email contactus@whisklogistics.com.

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