Week 48 Freight Updates

This week’s update will start off with more news on the challenges at several major ports in the U.S.:

Los Angeles/Long Beach

Terminals:

There are currently 13 ships at anchor awaiting berths in LAX/LGB as of Friday, November 20th. All terminals are congested due to the spike in import volumes.

Rail:

Shortage of railcars initially affected the inland transportation transit time to all main inland ramps. This situation has since then improved at the terminals but they are still congested and the on-dock rail performance is still not optimal forcing many units to be trucked to/from the off-dock rail ramp and the terminals. The off-dock ramp (ICTF for UP) is heavily congested. We are currently working with the UP & our house truckers to move these boxes to the terminals as soon as possible in order to load the cargo.

Truckers:

High demand has affected overall trucker availability and the industry facing overall trucker shortage (especially for DG & Overweight units).

Chassis:

Stressed chassis inventory in most terminal locations.

New York Terminal Update:

NY terminals continue to struggle with higher import volumes, high empty inventories, and increased dwell times. Expect gate congestion at end of week 48 due to closures for the Thanksgiving holiday on 11/26. Terminals have been extending gate/terminal hours when necessary to accommodate import deliveries. Other factors still impacting operations are driver shortages, customer warehouse congestion, and low chassis inventories. All terminals dealing with some degree of berth congestion/delays due to reinstatement by all alliances of previous voided sailings, and vessels continually being off schedule upon arrival.

Chassis Pools:

Oakland, CA – Constrained on 40’ with some units grounded at ramp and high volume of wheeled units at Trapac terminal.
Salt Lake City, UT – Currently no pending issues, but the pool is stressed and more grounding of units may happen next week.
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN – Deficit on 40’ chassis, longer dwells on street.
New York – Constrained on 40’ chassis due to volumes.

Also, check out our take on the other international shipping industry news you might have missed this week:

Covid panic and delays at Shanghai Airport as cargo workers test positive

Shanghai’s Pudong Airport reportedly descended into chaos on Sunday evening after two cargo handlers tested positive and went into lockdown as nearly 18,000 other staff were tested. Hundreds of flights were cancelled and videos were posted on social media of apparently frightened passengers attempting to flee the airport.

Rollover cargo still on the increase says Ocean Insights

Increasing levels of rollover cargo at congested ports are continuing to prevent the smooth operation of global supply chains an Ocean Insights study has found. Asian ports exporting to Europe and the U.S. have seen a month-on-month rise in cargo delayed at ports during October, according to data analysis of more than one million data points …

Federal Maritime Commission expands investigation of ports’ demurrage, detention problems

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is reacting to the growing chorus of complaints and protests about operations at the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and New York/New Jersey by launching an expansion of an existing fact-finding mission.

Supply chain bottlenecks prompt FMC investigation into container movement

The Federal Maritime Commission is expanding the scope of its fact finding mission related to system challenges stemming from the coronavirus pandemic to include ocean carrier detention and demurrage, container return, and container availability for U.S. export, the agency announced Friday.

Container line profits soar as service plunges

The robust profits container lines reported in the third quarter, the best in a decade, stand in stark contrast to dismal service levels and worsening container imbalances out of Asia that comes with the sting of rates that have hit record levels in the trans-Pacific and six-year highs on Asia–Europe trades.

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