White circles mark anchorages where ships wait at sea when surging imports choke the port, gateway for almost half the containers entering the US. Last October, boats filled 40 of 49 anchorages for as long as 10 days, idling cargo, increasing costs, and biting into company profits.

``This shouldn't happen in a 21st-century country, but it has,'' said Albert Pierce, 62, executive director of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement in Oakland, California, a shipping-company trade group.

It may happen again, as soon as next month, when the peak shipping season begins. Already, companies including Nike, Hewlett-Packard and clothing maker Liz Claiborne are diverting shipments to other ports, using the Panama Canal or sending goods by air.

Hewlett-Packard and other com-panies say they are not passing the cost on to customers. The result: ``It squeezes margins,'' said Larry Rupp, 61, manager of worldwide logistics for Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard.

``It puts additional pressure on us.''

Shippers have warned companies they may reimpose a 10 percent ``congestion'' fee on goods sent through Los Angeles port. The fee, rescinded in February, added about US$200 (HK$1,560) to the US$1,800 average price per container. Until now, such fees have been more common in developing countries such as Bangladesh and Malaysia, said Mark Page, research director at London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants.

Record imports driven by the US appetite for low-cost, Asian-made goods have overwhelmed the Los Angeles complex, comprising twin ports owned and operated by the adjacent cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Last year, overflow at the Los Angeles complex diverted more than 100 ships carrying goods worth as much as US$4 billion. The Port of Long Beach compared the scene to the World War II invasion of Normandy.

Port and shipping officials say they expect traffic to increase even more this year. Products bound for New York from Asia can save a week moving through the Port of Los Angeles compared with a 25-day trip via the Panama Canal. Ships reach Los Angeles within 11 days, and it takes another week to move shipments by truck or rail to the East Coast, assuming there are no delays.

``This chain is about to break,'' says Alan Lowenthal, a California state senator whose district includes Long Beach. ``It is embarrassing.''

The crunch is expected to arrive with the peak transport season, from June to November, when firms prepare to stock shelves for the holiday season.

With 150 giant orange and green cranes and 61 cargo terminals spread along 92 kilometers of waterfront, the complex is the most advanced in the US. Even so, it has not kept pace with imports, which surged 43 percent in value to US$1.76 trillion from 1999 to the end of 2004.

Last year, the issue was too few port workers. This year, companies say, deliveries may be clogged by an influx of big new ships capable of carrying as many as 10,000 containers - twice the size of the largest ships five years ago. That, they fear, will choke rail lines serving the complex.

Hewlett-Packard, the world's No 2 personal-computer maker, has begun importing parts earlier to avoid backlogs, incurring extra inventory costs as it keeps them on hand longer, Rupp said. ``It's the last thing any manufacturer wants to do.''

The company has had to slash prices on its PCs and printers. Profit at its printing unit, which accounts for more than two-thirds of earnings, fell 3.6 percent last quarter and operating margins narrowed. The company, whose shares have declined 2 percent this year to US$20.56, said May 4 it will eliminate 1,900 jobs.

New York-based Claiborne, the maker of Juicy Couture clothing, shipped some garments by air at the height of the backlogs last year to get complete collections into department stores, said Bob Zane, its senior vice-president of logistics.

That cost US$2.50 to US$6 per garment instead of 30 US cents to 50 US cents by sea from Hong Kong, southern China and Jakarta.

``On a US$50 garment, that's a big difference,'' Zane said. ``We've pretty much absorbed the higher costs.''

The company said April 28 that its profit this quarter will not meet analysts' estimates. The shares have fallen 10 percent this year to US$37.92.

Inbound freight costs are about 0.7 percent of revenue for the average US company, according to the consulting firm PRTM. Still, the increases come at a time when many importers are facing pricing pressure. Real prices of consumer goods have dropped 14 percent over the past five years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Oregon-based Nike is shipping more shoes from factories in China, Vietnam and Thailand to the Port of Seattle, one of six ports along the West Coast trying to lure business from Los Angeles. Traffic has jumped 40 percent at Seattle this year.

Liz Claiborne has started using the Panama Canal to ship some clothing directly to New York and other East Coast ports, Zane says. But because fashions change quickly, even a two-week delay can be critical, he said.

``Windows are getting narrower,'' Zane said. ``If you miss it, the goods can be subject to cancellation or heavy negotiations for markdowns.''

Nike and Liz Claiborne were among several US importers that called for more government spending on the Los Angeles port complex at meetings this year with US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and his undersecretary for policy, Jeffrey Shane.

Government leaders are starting to appreciate the need to help remove bottlenecks that affect the country as a whole, Shane said, though he added: ``Moving freight through the system tends to play second fiddle to passenger travel. Freight doesn't vote.''

The 6,100-hectare Port of Los Angeles complex receives about 45 percent of all containers shipped to the US, according to the Customs Service.BLOOMBERG