Category Archives: Shipping

G6 service to omit Oakland calls

But only for 4 weeks. It’s not a slowdown, but an actual shortage of labor, and more workers are being hired, according to the report.

American Shipper

G6 service to omit Oakland calls | AS Daily Newsletter | AS Daily | American Shipper.

There are ships standing in the bay waiting, and more of them holding outside the Golden Gate.

Maersk bets on Baltimore

Another example of significant supply chain revision for many shippers.  Supply chains now run through Baltimore!   How will supply chain integration improve (or not!) with this change?

Maersk bets on Baltimore with three new container services | AS Daily Newsletter | AS Daily | American Shipper.

L.A., Long Beach ports losing to rivals

The LA Times has a report on the large decrease of business for the Port of LA/Long Beach.  the decrease was from 39% to 32% of all container imports, in a ten-year period. Now it’s true, it is 32% of a larger pie.  But it is still a loss to the competition across the US.

It is interesting to note that the competition that is succeeding has focused on supply chain integration with inland transport and storage, rather than simply on fixing the port for large ships.

LA Times logo L.A., Long Beach ports losing to rivals amid struggle with giant ships – LA Times.

There are many examples of East Coast ports that have focused on supply chain integration rather than simply deepre harbors and on-port handling systems.  The Port of Virginia (Norfolk), which can already receive big ships, has connected to the Heartland Corridor, which brings goods all the way to Ohio.  Prince Rupert, Canada, with the help of the CN railroad, has built a corridor to Joliet IL just south of Chicago.  We can see the same concern for off-port transit in Houston.

Our article, which you will hopefully be able to read in white paper pre-publication form soon, talks about some of the issues of supply chain integration at Chicago.