Tag Archives: intermodal transport

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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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Supply Chains

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UPDATE – Felixstowe issues apology and rescinds container ban

Posted on September 21, 2020 by | 1 comment

Well, the media storm over the ban on receiving empty containers at Felixstowe got their attention at the port. Our earlier post on this subject explained the problem.

The apologies were for

“inconvenience”, “our service standards are not currently where we would like them to be”.

Source: The Loadstar, 9/21/2020

The port claims they are seeing a rush of container deliveries; perhaps it’s a presage of Brexit starting January 1, or simply a rush of winter orders. But this was entirely foreseeable. I guess their eye wasn’t on the ball for this crisis.

Imposing the ban was clearly a mistake, and a shock. It only took a couple of days for port management to realize they had screwed up the supply chains of everyone using the port.

By Mike Wackett 21/09/2020

Link: https://theloadstar.com/felixstowe-port-apologises-to-customers-and-rescinds-empty-container-ban/

By Gavin van Marle 18/09/2020

Link: https://theloadstar.com/chaos-at-port-of-felixstowe-worsens-as-carriers-refuse-return-of-empty-boxes/

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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Supply Chains, Trucking

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Maersk joins CP Rail inland with new transload facility

Posted on September 20, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Maersk is in the forefront of expanding their supply chain control into the hinterland. The Port of Vancouver is in a very closed in space, a bit like San Francisco, with little room to expand facilities. Maersk has finally grasped the idea that they should cooperate with supply chain members rather than simply do business deals.

Maersk is now finally positioning itself as a full service logistics provider instead of simply an ocean carrier. It’s taken many years, as ling as I’ve been working in it, for maritime companies to see this, and Maersk is way out in front of their rivals.

It will be useful for Maersk to transload containers inland, where there is much less congestion and where a special purpose facility can be built, and where there’s a direct link to a large rail network through Western Canada down into the Midwest. I think there is even a CP terminal in the Chicago area.

By Ian Putzger in Toronto 18/09/2020

Maersk gets on board with CP Rail to move inland with new transload facility – The Loadstar

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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Strategy, Supply Chains

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