1422 words 5 minute read – Let’s do this!
2024 is starting to heat up the supply chain that 2023 tried to normalize. Geopolitics, Government environmental regulations, weather, and supply chain rebuilding in other countries to avoid being dependent on China are some of the contributors to inflation this year. Are all the big things coming, hot topics on the horizon? To be honest I kind of hope so!
The Red Sea shipping distress is causing the risk to the global economy to grow. The World Bank warns the continued disruption on the Red Sea trade routes will boost “the likelihood of inflationary bottlenecks” at a time when many countries including the U.S. are already struggling to keep inflation down. If the Israel-Hamas war grows into a regional conflict, the impacts could be even worse, leaving energy supplies “substantially disrupted” and driving up those costs, the World Bank stated. Some retailers are already warning of shipment delays and possible shortages of certain products — and the costs of ocean transport from one country to another are soaring. Six of the world’s 10 biggest shipping companies, including Maersk and Hapag Lloyd are mostly or completely avoiding the Red Sea amid the Houthi attacks.
Maersk plans to eliminate Panama Canal vessel transits on a north-south service between Oceania and the U.S. East Coast, citing the ongoing drought that has reduced ship transits and container carrying capacity through the waterway. Maersk said Wednesday that its “OC1” service linking Australia and New Zealand with the ports of Philadelphia and Charleston will instead use a 50-mile rail service across the Isthmus of Panama to handle cargo between the Atlantic and Pacific. The OC1 service will be broken into two loops, Maersk said. The Pacific loop will drop off northbound cargo at Balboa for the land bridge service via rail to Manzanillo, where the Atlantic loop will retrieve the cargo and resume waterborne service. Maersk did not say whether the nearly 26-day transit time from New Zealand to Philadelphia would change due to the land bridge. It said that while northbound cargo will not be delayed, southbound cargo may see some delays. Maersk said the decision to omit the Panama Canal crossing on OC1 was “based on current and projected water levels in Gatun Lake,” which provides the water to raise and lower vessels in the canal’s locks. As of Wednesday, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said Gatun Lake was at 81.6 feet, compared with a five-year average water level for January of 86.9 feet.
I suspect there will be delays as even rail service is not protected by hazardous weather conditions and rail times are often unpredictable. There are minimal and often no delays when you choose to transload cargo – and Port X Logistics is the Gold Standard of drayage, transload and trucking. If you have containers that are impacted by the canal drama we can help! We have open capacity in all U.S. and Canadian ports to help with drayage, transloading and trucking and our team of experts are happy to answer any questions you may have about choosing transloading. Contact the team at Letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com
If you need your delayed or air freight delivered domestically even faster our Carrier911 team is available 24/7/365 for all your domestic expedited needs. We provide tracking for all your shipments and can provide cargo vans, straight trucks, dry vans and even specialized equipment for your airport and hot shipments and in most cases the drivers can be on site for pickup within one hour. Our tracking links are shareable and will track the driver from pickup to final delivery and POD digitally at your fingertips at time of delivery. Contact info@carrier911.com to experience the unmatchable customer service and tech!
Yes – a Union contract is up for renewal again, the National Retail Federation (NRF) is pushing for a fast resolution to avoid even more supply chain disruptions. In a letter to the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) and the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), NRF President Matthew Shay said the growing share of containerized imports moving through East and Gulf coast ports will be put at risk if contract talks do not resume shortly. He said NRF members will consider contingency plans if no progress on a new contract is made before the current deal expires at the end of September. The USMX and the ILA, which represent 45,000 dockworkers, started negotiations for a new six-year collective bargaining agreement at the start of 2023, hoping to get well ahead of the current contract’s expiration and avoid a repeat of the 2022–23 West Coast longshore talks that went on for nearly a year after the prior deal expired.
Import TEUs are up 105.66% this week from last week as we enter the tail end of the first full week of 2024. The highest import TEU volume from Los Angeles port at 18.1%, second Long Beach 17.3% and New Jersey coming in 3rd at 14% . There have been significant pickups in the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports from last year – how will the West Coast ports perform in 2024?
The winter season is upon us and the weather seems to get crazier every year, just this past week the southeast and all the way up the coast to the Northeast was hit with wind storms, causing a few port closures and delays. There is snow, flash flooding and heavy rains in many states and winter storm warnings everywhere. The next couple months will bring extreme weather that could affect transit times, port and rail free times and export cut offs. Follow our Linkedin page for the most current and up to date extreme weather updates that are affecting the market.
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 on our website – click on the link below
Reminder – Some ports will be closed or have minimal shifts running on Monday January 15th in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
Click Here For Port & Rail Updates
NY/NJ : NYC was in a state of emergency on Tuesday due to heavy winds, expect delays at most terminals, congestion is starting to normalize from the weather, however appointments at APM Terminal are limited and go quickly
Container Vessels currently in Port: 273 Expected Arrivals: 78
Oakland: Terminals remain busy with slight congestion and driver wait times of up to 2-3 hours with 36 vessels making stops at the Port of Oakland during the next 7 days. Reminder that as of January 1st the GATE FEE at OICT has increased from $35 to $40 per transaction. Despite the increase in container volume, we have drivers available! Contact JP and the Oakland team for all your Oakland drayage needs Oakland@portxlogistics.com
Container Vessels currently in Port: 53 Expected Arrivals: 7
Kansas City: Chassis’ are an issue for all chassis pools. There is a supply shortage of tires at the hubs, and drivers are having to get containers lifted off damaged chassis to go on the train and the ones getting lifted off with minimal chassis available to replace the chassis that need repairs. The chassis congestion is causing excess driver wait times of 1-5 hours just to pull one container out of the BNSF, Norfolk Southern and KCS. The UP is operating a little more smoothly. Did you know we have our own assets in Kansas City? We have 59 trucks, yard space, and a crossdock facility and capacity! Contact our team for great rates and availability letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com
Did you know? Port X Logistics will be attending the Manifest Conference from February 5th – 7th at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, and we’d love to see you there!
Our very own Co-Founder and CEO, Brian Kempisty, will be sharing his insights on the Continuously Integrating Logistics/Transportation Tech panel. It’s an opportunity not to be missed if you’re interested in the future of logistics tech
VP of Sales Patrick Morrison and COO Tom Zeis will be in attendance as well, and would be pleased to meet up during the event. To set up a meeting with our team, reach out to marketing@portxlogistics.com See you there!
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