Tag Archives: intermodal transport

Congested Port of LA receiving empty containers from Gulf, Southeast

Posted on October 26, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Everyone has something to report about the great supply chain disaster. In this case, empty containers moving from the Southeast ports to LA/Long Beach are going to cause problems there. You can read to find out about the problems. There’s no space for them.

Even with new rules to allow stacks of containers to be 6 high instead of 2 high, the problems won’t go away. Just making the rule does not get the terminal operators to do it. And as the article points out, higher stacks mean it’s harder to find and get to a specific container for a given truck or ship. That adds time to the transfers, and creates another source of delay.

Perhaps finally people will grasp that in the age of global shipping there must be a plan, at least countrywide, to integrate all the components of the system– full containers, berths, empty containers, yards, stacking space, ports, terminals, warehouses, drayage trucking, chassis, appointments.

More than that, the plan has to be followed!!

There’s little that state governors can do, even though Gavin Newsom in California is trying to find ways to help out by relieving some of the storage space problems. When the commerce is interstate, and indeed international, it’s bigger than just one bottleneck point.

Lori Ann LaRocco Monday, October 25, 2021

Exclusive: Congested Port of LA receiving empty containers from Gulf, Southeast – FreightWaves

Eric Kulisch, Air Cargo Editor Monday, October 25, 2021

City of Long Beach allows logistics companies to stack containers higher – FreightWaves

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Cosco settles case brought by American furniture shipper

Posted on September 16, 2021 by | 2 comments

Furniture is hard to get. And it appears that ocean liner companies are causing problems in the furniture markets.

This lawsuit was just settled, so there will not be any revelation of what practices were not up to snuff.

Sam Chambers September 16, 2021

Cosco settles case brought by American furniture shipper – Splash247

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CH Robinson introduces drayage congestion surcharge for major US ports

Posted on September 4, 2021 by | 2 comments

This article clearly outlines some of the reasons drayage truckers don’t want the job any more. Fixing it will require major cooperation along several elements of the container supply chain.

We can enumerate them:

  • Drayage trucking companies that pick up containers weit a chassis and drive them to the next point on the journey.
  • Drayage truck drivers, who are often owner-operators, paid by theload and not hourly, who can’t afford to wait for chassis or container pickup.
  • Port terminal yards, which may have restrictions on hours, and increasingly operate with reservation systems that fix the time you can pick up.
  • Chassis pools. To move a container you must have a chassis, and chassis are currently in short supply. At many ports they are owned by leasing companies and stored in pools, where the driver must go to pick the chassis up and drop it later.
  • Forwarders and Shippers. Sometimes contracts for drayage are altered without notice and drivers must spend extra time traveling, or waiting for facilities to open. Sometimes the chassis must be dropped elsewhere, forcing the driver to go extra distance and spend unpaid time accommodating the change.
  • Rail lines. Many containers are delivered by drayage firms to transfer points where they are loaded on rail cars for a long distance trip. Currently rail lines have a shortage of the rail cars required to carry containers. Rail lines are also suffering from serious delays at key transfer points, such as Chicago. Perhaps there has been chronic underinvestment in equipment for container handling. It’s not as profitable as hauling coal or grains or other bulk commodities.
  • Warehouses. Often containers must be delivered or picked up within a specific time window. these windows are not flexible enough when there is a great deal of variation in pickup and travel times.

CH Robinson introduces drayage congestion surcharge for major US ports Published Sept. 2, 2021 Max Garland Reporter

CH Robinson introduces drayage congestion surcharge for major US ports | Supply Chain Dive

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