784 words 4 minute read – Let’s do this!
Bye, bye, bye to spring, or winter to those of us in the north. Whoa.. it really is June 1st, in 30 days 2023 will be half over. I swear I just wrote about it being almost winter and it’s pretty much the start of summer. And it is abnormally and unseasonably sunny and HOT in Buffalo this week. I am a cold weather girl at heart, but the sunshine is really helping my mood this year. I hope everyone out there feels the same, let’s not allow for the volume and price bidding wars to get to us – change is on the horizon. At some point inventories need to be replenished and the economy will improve.
Norfolk Southern is saying bye, bye, bye to excess storage charges, but only at their “Tier 2” locations. The NS advised this week that they will go back to 2 days of free time to mitigate demurrage storage charges to keep up with the needs of shippers during the state of the current market. In 2021 and 2022, the NS increased demurrage penalties to help with the flow of heavy volumes and container stacking – even though there were chassis shortages during that time. The new fee structure also reduces the cost of daily storage fees through all NS locations, including Tier 1 facilities and the fees will be the same across the board. Bringing back the two free days of free time at the Tier 2 facilities will also allow shippers more flexibility in the smaller Tier 2 cities where their distribution centers may be closed on weekends. Two free days will allow shippers with containers made available Friday afternoon to pick up their cargo on Saturday or Monday without paying any demurrage penalties. The new structure will be effective July 1st 2023. You can read more about the new NS fee structure here from JOC’s Ari Ashe:
https://loom.ly/odZA3Fs (JOC)
Click here for the list of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Norfolk Southern locations:
http://www.nscorp.com/content/dam/nscorp/maps/2016-system-map-print.pdf
Import TEU volumes are down 14.41% from last week, which is to be expected with the holiday on Monday and the port closures from last weekend. Taking a look at the truck load tender volume chart below, truckload volumes are 5-7% higher during 2023 Memorial week and into June compared to 2019. Could this be from a shift in supply and demand, resulting in the need for increased inventories for the remainder of 2023?
What’s happening at the ports and rails?:
You can find all the information on the below link where we cover port congestion, chassis issues and capacity lead times weekly at all U.S. and Canada Ports and rail heads
portxlogistics.com/port-rail-updates/
Highlights:
Vancouver: Rail dwell times for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and Canadian National Railway (CN) out of some Vancouver terminals are exceeding 5 days until they hit the rail and Centerm is over 7 days, further causing more transit time to your intermodal containers. We can help get your containers that are stuck moving faster by transloading your cargo in Vancouver and trucking to the final destination. Ask Rachel how we can make magic happen Rachel / Canada@portxlogistics.com
Vessels currently in Port: 213 Expected Arrivals: 60
Miami: The holiday has caused increased congestion this week, caused by the imposed shortened terminal hours as a result of decreased volumes this year. We have had drivers waiting in line to retrieve containers since 8 am this morning at South Florida Terminal Vessels currently in Port (for both Miami and PEV) : 303 Expected Arrivals: 41
Houston: There is congestion at Bayport this week due to the increasing amount of bare chassis stacking up – it has been reported that there are over 1100 empty chassis currently stacked, causing drivers to wait to turn in their empty chassis.
Vessels currently in Port: 353 Expected Arrivals: 112
Did you know? Port X Logistics now offers IMC service – We have an inventory of 1100 reefer trailers that can ride on flat car, as well as access to1000s of domestic EMPU and UMAX boxes providing you with cost saving options for your long hauls. What is the benefit of choosing domestic intermodal? Aside from the huge benefit of transportation costs savings, the longer transit times of intermodal shipments can help to reduce storage time costs for cargo that needs to be stored in warehouses and can help to lessen drop times for drop trailer shipments. For more information on the benefits of choosing to move to domestic intermodal and for rates, contact Letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com
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