A backlog of over 50 trains is clogging the China – Europe rail route known as the New Silk Road. As a result costs to ship a container to Europe are rising fast. And delays are a mater of weeks.
If this route is to be viable competition for ocean shipping it must fix the problems. are they easier to fix for rail than for ocean shipping? I’m not sure they are. Look at the trouble the Asia-US-Europe land bridge service has had in Chicago.
Ships periodically require surveys, which are inspections a lot like your annual car inspection, though a lot of states don’t have them anymore. Key systems of the ship are checked for compliance with safety rules and such things as pollution control equipment. The inspection period for most ships is I believe 5 years. Major surveys occur less often, but result in substantial repairs most of the time. Voyages on the open sea put a great strain on ships’ mechanical structure.
Repairs of any problems must be made before the ship can sail again. Today most surveys are done in China. See the article for the dominance of China in this market.
Covid quarantines for ship surveys are very strict and expensive. China has maintained recently a zero new infections rte for those arising internally. However there have been a few infections from travelers entering the country. That is why the strict regime is being enforced. Ships are a frequent source of infections; the mariners are exposed for a long time, air circulation is not very good in the interior, and mariners are travelers likely to be exposed to new people wherever they land.
So don’t take your ship to China for your survey work.
One of the big problems owner-operators have is waiting to load and unload at warehouses. that is dead time for them. They are only earning their fee if they are rolling; they aren’t paid for waiting time.
Uber Freight has designed a service called Powerloop, which offers to place leased trailers at shippers’ premises so that they can load or unload when it suits them. When a trailer is ready for pickup, the Uber Freight system finds an owner-operator driver who can come to the premises, and simply hook up to the trailer and leave. And on the other end, the owner-operator simply drops off the trailer. It’s then up to the receiver to unload the trailer on their own time.
This is clearly a big advantage to the driver. And Uber takes a cut from the fee offered to cover the trailer lease and maintenance costs, and the service ofhaving it at the shipper’s warehouse when they need it.
Think of it as a bit like the U-Haul moving pods you sometimes see outside the house of someone who is moving. the family can load it as they can, and when it’s ready they can just say, “Come pick it up.” A driver comes and takes it to where it’s going, and leaves it again, in the new driveway or something. It’s up to the family to unload it, and then have it taken away. For some it works a lot better than a moving van.
Warehouses are notorious for having limited working hours that don’t conform to the needs of the truckers they’ve hired to move the load. The warehouses may have labor rules for union workers, or may have instituted various rules themselves. Failing to match rules to truckers’ needs can result in a warehouse being placed on a lwess-than-desirable list that may bring higher rates, or fewer carriers to select from. And at the extreme it may result in abandoned loads and poor relations with the carrier, customer, and warehouse, losing money and time for all.
The Uber approach is one that could work in drivers’ favor and warehouses also. It takes financial muscle, such as Uber can generate— to lease the trailers; and technology, like Uber’s— the system for good communication with drivers and drop-off points to get the scheduling right.
Uber Freight’s power-only expansion into Georgia gives owner-operators leg up Powerloop now accessible in 3 states .
Supply Chain and Logistics 