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Late June |
Dear Customers and Friends of Seajet! You have already heard about the shortages of space on container ships and shortages of containers in Asia. Now shortages have arrived here at home. They have come in the form of terminals and railroads not having prepared for the continued increase of imported cargo into the current peak shipping season. The problems are shortened hours of gate operation, reduced staff and reduced chassis pools making it impossible to pick up containers that have arrived but have not been mounted onto chassis because there are none available. The three main problem areas are: Los Angeles/Long Beach Quoting from TransportTopicsOnline: “An increase in cargo traffic and warehouse staffing cutbacks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have left trucks at the ports waiting in longer lines to enter terminal gates, port officials said. Art Wong, a spokesman for the port of Long Beach, likened the wait problem to a perfect storm. During the economic downturn, terminal operators reduced staffing levels, cut back the number of nighttime gates and shrank their hours of operations, including closing down during the lunch hour. Now, with container traffic increasing, there is inadequate staff to keep up with the more energetic pace. Total container numbers at the Port of Los Angeles were up 9% through April from a year ago and more than 16% at the Port of Long Beach.” To the best of my knowledge these numbers increased even further during May and now June. Mentioned in the same article was that Subcommittee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said that terminal operators have caused the problems (long waiting times) because they have cut back on staffing at warehouses. He called cargo movement operations at the two ports inefficient, noting that “everything seems to be conspiring against the people who actually drive the rigs.” What he may not have realized is that is also conspiring against importers and exporters trying to pick up and deliver containers in a timely fashion. 2.)Chicago rail yards (BNSF in particular) Obviously all cargo into Chicago arrives by rail. Under “normal circumstances” trains arrive at the terminals and unload containers directly onto chassis so that they can be pulled and drayed to their destinations. However starting about 2 weeks ago carriers were unprepared for the onslaught of containers so that the rail yards simply “dropped” containers and made drivers find a chassis from the ocean carriers which then resulted in turnaround times 2 or 3 times the time it would usually take. 3.)New York/New Jersey Here are some quotes from one of our New York truckers: “There is substantial congestion and delays at APM Terminal 88, where the line to get into the terminal is backed up to the New Jersey Turnpike. Secondly, PNCT is also backed up to Maher Terminal and Port Authority police are now involved to manage the traffic.” To see this with your own eyes you can go to www.pnct.com and/or www.apmterminals.com/americas/portelizabeth/ and click the Gate Camera link. It is mainly the truckers who suffer under the above conditions as they are paid per job regardless of how long it takes them to complete it. However by extension also importers and exporters bear part of the consequences as they will have to wait longer for their containers and in some instances have to pay for demurrage or detention charges as containers cannot be picked up and/or delivered in the free time given by the carriers. While writing this email I received another article from the Journal of Commerce about the global container shortage I wrote about just last week. I thought that this article would be a good follow up as it illustrates the problem in more detail and confirms the problems alluded to in my earlier email. Please click here to access this JoC news article. The summer has just begun but I believe it is safe to say that it will be full of challenges not seen in many years. As always, our partners abroad and your Seajet Team here in the US will do whatever possible to keep your freight moving without delays and we will continue to keep you informed as we gain new information about shipping trends. Thank you for your continued support. Sincerely yours,
Andreas Bauermeister,
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Seajet Express Inc., 46 Arlington Street, Chelsea, MA 02150 - Telephone 617.884.0991 - www.seajet.com |
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