1400 words 5 minute read – Let’s do this!
Happy April! Just as April promises every year we’re starting with a lot of rain across the country and even some snow for us lucky ones. Will we see spring this year or will we jump right into summer? That seems to be the trend for the past few years. Q2 is also underway and there are a lot of market topics to be aware of and how they will affect the quarter and the rest of the year. Some issues have no resolution in sight like the sudden collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and the ongoing Red Sea Crisis. What are your predictions for Q2? And the remainder of this election year?
The Port of Baltimore remains closed indefinitely during the removal of the Key Bridge wreckage and repositioning the container ship Dali. The ports of Wilmington, Delaware, and Brunswick, Georgia are handling the first vehicle vessel diversions from Baltimore, where one of four roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) terminals at the port continues to receive shipments thanks to its location on the accessible side of the collapsed Key Bridge. It could be weeks or months before the channel reopens. Baltimore is the busiest U.S. port for vehicle imports and exports, handling 847,000 cars and light trucks last year, according to Maryland Port Administration data. Emergency measures for RO/RO importers and exporters could include temporary moves to the Tradepoint Atlantic logistics complex, which already handles imports of Volkswagen and BMW vehicles. The privately-owned facility’s location, on the seaward side of the Key bridge, will allow it to remain open despite the closure of the rest of the port. The 3,300-acre multimodal logistics and industrial facility is operational and handled the car carrier “Wolfsburg” on charter to Volkswagen, on Wednesday. Many shippers are making alternate plans in an effort to avoid the Port of Baltimore for the future import and export project cargo and Port X Logistics has a project team to help with your project cargo needs. Are you overwhelmed with the upcoming boost of project cargo? Let us help you find a better way. Whether it’s out of gauge flat racks, open tops or oversized heavy haul and breakbulk, we can handle it at all Ports in the U.S. and Canada. Let us help you formulate a plan from start to finish, even including load plans and arranging a team on site to load and unload. Contact letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com to experience why we are the best!
Norfolk Southern Railway will begin running trains between the Port of New York and New Jersey and Baltimore on Friday to transport containers that have been rerouted after the Baltimore bridge devastation. The trains will run from the Elizabeth Marine Terminal in New Jersey to its Bayview Yard about 15 minutes north of the Baltimore port, from where Triple Crown Services, a subsidiary of the railroad, will dray the containers to the port. This service will help to alleviate the need for truckers to haul loads as far south as Virginia and focus on containers from the NY/NJ Ports. While CSX is the only railroad permitted to directly access Seagirt, Norfolk Southern said it is working with terminal operator Ports America to gain temporary access to the on-dock rail yard on a schedule that doesn’t conflict with CSX service.
Import TEUs are up 1.39% this week from last, the heaviest volume this week arriving at Los Angeles 15.1% of incoming TEU volume, New Jersey 13.8% of incoming TEU volume and Long Beach 13.2% of incoming TEU volume. The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association recently noted in their monthly West Coast Trade Report that rail dwell times in the Los Angeles/Long Beach complex had jumped in February, increasing from 4.72 days in January to 6.26 days amid a jump in imports to start the year, and is likely caused by a shortage of positioned available equipment in Southern California. Rail Dwell backlog will increase the need for transload solutions for urgent containers and Port X Logistics has your solution – WE ARE the Gold Standard in drayage, transloading and trucking. We track your containers from the time they leave overseas, dray your containers from all port locations and transload with plenty of photos provided, load to outbound trucks for the fastest over the road delivery with a shareable tracking app to track drivers all the way to final destination. Transload orders have been piling up as many shippers have been taking the early initiative to speed up deliveries whether it was an ocean delay or to avoid the rails, but we have all the capacity in the world for you! If you want more information on how you can get your cargo diverted at the port and on the road for a speedy delivery with full visibility contact Letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com
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
Click Here for Port & Rail Updates
Oakland: Dwell times have gone up, 7-10 days average at SSA terminal and containers are being moved to “off-dock” enclosed areas for 2 weeks. Some exciting news for OICT, they have opened a new import delivery lane X253-X299 – please note that they do require appointments. Congestion is about to pick up in the Oakland area and if you are looking for capacity, we encourage you to get your orders in early for the most guaranteed capacity. Send all orders and requests to our Oakland team at Oakland@portxlogistics.com
Seattle/Tacoma: There are plans being released soon to help make the terminals more efficient for drivers and shippers which can help to alleviate some of the potential congestion that could come with all the disruptions that have already started to develop this year. If you have questions on how shipping through the SEA/TAC ports can benefit your supply chain and if you are looking for an all-star drayage/transload warehouse team, our Seattle operations has plenty of drayage capacity with the addition of 11 new drivers and a huge warehouse with plenty of open space for transloading and storage. Contact letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com for capacity and great drayage and warehouse rates.
Chicago: New changes are taking place in Chicago, the Norfolk Southern Landers is working to implement an appointment system to help even out congestion and a new Canadian National (CN) hub, proposed as the “Chicago Logistics Hub” could be coming as soon as 2025 to the Channahon-Minooka border. NS Landers is still having a slow move for drivers but most of the Chicago railways are currently running smooth. We have unlimited drayage capacity in Chicago available and we can take on new drayage volume projects and have specialized chassis to move heavy or problematic containers – if you are looking to make a change for the best in your Chicago drayage market Contact Danny and our Chicago team at Letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com
Did you know? Port X Logistics Jason, Tom, and Adam S will be attending Aviation Week MRO Americas April 9th – 11th to feature our Carrier911 team. If you would like to arrange a meeting at MRO with our Port X Logistics Brand Ambassadors, contact marketing@portxlogistics.com
Do you have urgent domestic airfreight shipments that you are looking to find a more streamlined way to reduce your stress and your need to babysit them on the domestic trucking side? Let our Carrier911 team be your new babysitters. We can get your drivers assigned and on site at the airport for most pickups within an hour. We have access to cargo vans, straight trucks, dry vans and more – all of our drivers have experience with airport and CFS pickups and have access to retrieving the proper documentation to make these pickups seamless. Don’t forget we provide shareable tracking links and PODs sent at the time of delivery, so you can relax stress free with all of your most critical shipments. Contact the Carrier911 team 24/7/365 info@carrier911.com
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