DESPITE a tentative agreement on a new labour contract for longshore workers a fortnight ago, two dozen containerships were still stranded at anchor off southern California.

One of the vessels is the China Shipping's 8,500 TEU Xin Da Yang Zhou which has been waiting to berth in Los Angeles for almost three weeks, according to UK's Lloyd's List.

Although operations in the giant LA/Long Beach complex are now returning to normal after months of work slowdowns, this has had no discernible impact yet on the number of ships at anchor in San Pedro Bay.

The two ports are managing the process to clear the backlog to ensure quaysides are not clogged with containers.

That has left the anchorages both within the harbour and just outside packed. At the last count, there were 23 containerships at anchor.