1098 words 4 minute read – Let’s do this!
This week’s Market update wraps up July and we are approaching what we hope will be a busy peak season. Overall import TEUs have been down for the month of July over June and May and I think we are all relying on an August and September seasonal spike. Most shipper, steamship line and NVOCC sources have alluded to a “slight uptick” in the fourth quarter. Maybe we can do a freight dance to get more freight? Even with the market slow and the economy pretty down in the dumps in general the Barbie Movie still managed $162 million gross open for the weekend. Overall, “Barbie” earned $356.3 million for its opening debut, including international sales, according to numbers from Warner Bros. Discovery, which distributed the film. That is the magic of marketing… and the color pink!
Below shows inbound TEUs from the past three months:
This has been the month of negotiations, some done deals, some still up in the air and some still taking some time for the ink to dry and the clean up to start. The ILWU Canada has set a tentative 4 year agreement but the terms of the tentative deal have not yet been disclosed. The strike from earlier this month has caused vessel backlogs and inland supply chain disruptions have added to the woes of British Columbia ports that had already been feeling the effects of declining ocean volumes. According to statistics from the ports, container volumes in Vancouver were down 13.8% through May and 27% lower in Prince Rupert. Canadian National Railway said it will likely take up to eight weeks to clear the cargo backlog from the 14 day strike amid the weaker than normal peak season. If you have containers that have been hanging idle in the Canadian Pacific West Coast and your cargo has become urgent we can help. We offer drayage, transloading, and trucking solutions to have your diverted containers pulled from the port, transloaded and on the road and delivered faster than it will even hit the rails. We will also provide cargo photos once transloaded and provide a tracking link from pickup to final destination. Contact our Canada team to get your expedited shipments rolling and let us “Wow” you with our service. Canada@portxlogistics.com
The UAW (United Auto Workers) are also negotiating new 4 year contracts with Detroit’s “Big 3”. The automotive industry’s labor union, the United Auto Workers, is gearing up for a fight with Detroit’s Big Three car companies this summer and fall. Ford, GM, and Stellantis (the owner of Chrysler and Jeep) returned to the bargaining table this month to hash out a new four-year agreement with the UAW, which is under new leadership. This is the first round of negotiations between the Detroit car companies and the UAW in which electric vehicles will be front and center. EVs were an undercurrent in the 2019 negotiations, but since then the segment has grown exponentially and companies like Ford and GM have made firm commitments to build more EVs, which is said to require less labor. The UAW will be looking for assurances that their work will be protected even as it changes, and that wages will continue to improve even as the companies look to remain competitive with EV-makers like Tesla who use cheaper non-union labor. Negotiations formally began at all three companies last week. The current contracts are set to expire September 14.
There is no question that EV vehicles are the wave of the future and we specialize in moving all EV batteries, auto parts and automotive projects. We have many successful projects under our belt and have experience dealing with many automotive plant deliveries. We make EV EZ! To learn more about EV is EZ and advice from our professionals visit our Linkedin page and contact Cristina.
Well I guess someone really is doing a freight dance or praying to the freight gods: Import TEU volumes are up this week a whopping 23.45% from last week. That’s a pretty big spike to close out the month and a promising sign for the start of peak season.
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
Port & Rail Updates
LA/LGB / Oakland / Seattle/Tacoma : Ports are closed Friday the 28th in observance of Harry Bridges birthday holiday, some LA/LGB terminals will close second shift today the 27th.
LA Vessels Currently at port: 129 Expected arrivals 45
LGB Vessels Currently at port: 67 Expected arrivals 59
Oakland Vessels Currently at port: 57 Expected arrivals 15
Seattle: Vessels Currently at port: 318 Expected arrivals 41
Tacoma: Vessels Currently at port: 76 Expected arrivals 33
Savannah: last week the Port of Savannah reopened the completely rebuilt Berth 1 at the Garden City Terminal, and many shippers are considering moving containers into Savannah over the west coast. We have a full service transload warehouse and drayage operation in Savannah and have immediate capacity. We have capacity in Charleston and Jacksonville too! Contact our South East division for competitive rates, immediate capacity and the coolest and cleanest warehouse in town sav@portxlogistics.com
Vessels Currently at port: 44 Expected arrivals 18
Chicago Rail: There is a slight chassis shortage due to maintenance issues at TRAC and DCLI, and with the Canada West Coast 14 day strike causing rail backups for about 8 weeks, chassis shortages and congestion can heat up during the clean up. We have a whole fleet of private chassis and tri axles in Chicago and we can even make magic happen for your overweight and damaged containers struggling to get outgated. Contact letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com for all your Chicago drayage needs.
Did you know? There are currently 318 vessels in the Port of Seattle right now – yikes! AND the ports are closed tomorrow also. The good news? We are fully set up to crush the competition and crush all those transloads sitting on those 318 vessels. We have immediate capacity to pull containers from Seattle and Tacoma to our transload warehouse and deliver local drayage containers. Get us your orders quickly as the holiday will also quickly eat up capacity. Email the West coast team at ca@portxlogistics.com to get ahead of the game.
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