846 words 4 minute read – Let’s do this!
I have been hanging on for dear life for peak season to come to fruition. It truly looks like 2023 is just going to be a year of economic recovery. People are just not spending, and retailers are not really buying. Weird and devastating weather things are still happening – this week brings wildfires in Hawaii on Maui and the Big Islands, which have been made even worse by strong winds from Category 4 Hurricane Dora. Some towns have been heavily impacted or even destroyed by the fires. Our thoughts go out to all that has been affected, both natives and travelers, and wish for an easy recovery for all the damages. Such a sad reminder that anything can happen and life to the fullest, be happy and bring happiness and fun into everything you do.
More weather impacting the market in the gulf ports, the Panama Canal drought, has upped wait time for vessels to cross the canal, to a now alarming 20-21 days. The massive pileup is a result of water conservation measures the Panama Canal Authority deployed in late July due to the drought. The PCA has temporarily lowered the availability of booking slots from August 8-August 21 for Panamax vessels, which are the largest vessels that can cross the canal. These vessels can carry 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), which are the dimensions of a container. The number of pre-booking slots was reduced to 14 daily from 23.
The Panama Canal is a critical trade link for U.S. shippers heading to Gulf and East Coast ports. The U.S. is the largest user of the Panama Canal, with total U.S. commodity export and import containers representing about 73% of Panama Canal traffic. Forty percent of all U.S. container traffic travels through the canal every year, about $270 billion in cargo.
A temporary measure was put in place where five ships a day on the Panamax locks can traverse the canal on a first come first served basis. The measure is designed to help reduce waiting times but backlog remains. It is possible to reroute containers through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports to avoid the canal backlog and we offer transloading at all terminals. If this is an option for your supply chain, we have immediate capacity for drayage and transloading, our team will provide you with proactive updates and transload photos and we will track your containers from origin to final destination. Contact our west coast team to help you get started CA@portxlogistics.com
Import TEU volumes are down 7.79% from last week, Imports out of China are tanking into the next few days as well. China’s worldwide exports plunged by 14.5% in July compared with a year earlier, Imports tumbled 12.4%, customs data showed Tuesday, in a blow to global exporters that look to China as one of the biggest markets for industrial materials, food and consumer goods. Exports to the United States fell 23% from a year earlier to $42.3 billion while imports of American goods retreated 11.1% to $12 billion. China’s trade surplus with the United States narrowed by 27% to $30.3 billion caused heavily by politically sensitive issues.
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
https://portxlogistics.com/port-rail-updates/
Houston: Empty returns at Bayport have been causing extra wait time and additional chassis split charges due to an overage of DCLI chassis. The effects of the Panama Canal drought is also expected to increase congestion into Houston over the next few weeks. Don’t forget! We have 40 trucks, yard space, specialize in the Houston to Dallas drayage lane and our warehouse can handle heavy and unique cargo like paper rolls and oversized pallets. We have immediate capacity for your Houston and Dallas drays and transloads, reach out to the team today for rates and to WOW you with our service letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com Vessels Currently at port: 334 Expected arrivals 155
New Orleans: On going chassis shortages are still causing slight congestion issues
Vessels Currently at port: 374 Expected arrivals 58
Chicago: Congestion taking place at CSX, causing longer driver wait times. Keep an eye on the CN and CP rails, there is still backup and increased rail dwell times from the Canadian West Coast port shutdowns. If you have containers coming into the BC Canada Ports heading for the rail with hot cargo, we got you covered! Our awesome Canadian team has been pumping out transloads and killing it. They are waiting to rock out your transloads Canada@portxlogistics.com
Did you know? A little birdy told me… We are about to change the Seattle/Tacoma market in the best way. SEA/TAC drayage assets coming soon, complete with a full service transload warehouse and plenty of capacity. Interested in our services in the area – Contact Letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com
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