1208 words 5 minute read – Let’s do this!
There is just one week left in February, and we are more than half way through the 1st quarter – and a little over 1 week until The Superbowl of the shipping world TPM2024 and guess what? The Port X Logistics Brand Ambassadors will be available for onsite meetings and daily demonstrations are available at our booth located outside between the Convention Center and the Hyatt. We have spots open for lunch and dinner meetings and helicopter rides that tour the Port. If you are interested in meeting with the team contact marketing@portxlogistics.com . We hope to see you there!
Railway workers warn ‘work stoppage looms’ after Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific KC Ltd. (CPKC) seek conciliation. Last Friday, CN and CKPC filed notices of dispute with the federal labor minister and requested the appointment of a conciliator for the bargaining process over a new collective bargaining agreement for train conductors, engineers and yard workers. The union representing more than 9,000 workers at Canada’s two biggest railways says public safety is at stake as contract negotiations ground to a halt this month, with a potential strike on the horizon. Teamsters Canada president Francois Laporte said demands by Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. are “non-negotiable.” “CN and CPKC aim to eliminate all safety-critical rest provisions from our collective agreements. These provisions are necessary to combat crew fatigue and ensure public safety,” he said in a press release on Monday. CN and CPKC asked the federal labor minister Friday to appoint a conciliator for the bargaining process over a new collective agreement for train conductors, engineers and yard workers. The notice of dispute starts the clock on a possible strike or lockout, which could occur as soon as 81 days after the request, in early May. That proposal would see employees on a scheduled 40-hour work week, with at least 10 or 12 hours of rest between shifts — depending on whether they’re at home or away — and either two or three consecutive days off each week, in compliance with federal rules. A spokesman for the Railway had advised the union’s demands would place stress on supply chains and more costs on consumers. CN also said recent regulatory changes to rest provisions have made it harder to find available crews. Fatigue management remains a factor in safety concerns around freight rail, lingering on the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s “watchlist” since 2016. New rules came into effect last May that cap freight workers’ maximum shift length at 12 hours, down from 16. They also raised the minimum rest period between shifts to 10 hours at home and 12 hours when away from home, versus the previous six hours and eight hours, respectively.
The notice of dispute starts the clock on a possible strike or lockout, which could occur in 81 days, or early May. Any disruption could be catastrophic to the economy should a strike take place. Both sides are committed to a resolution; however, caution and preparation are key if you have container cargo routing through Canada. Our Port X Logistics team can help you formulate a plan for your CN and CP containers that could be affected by possible work stoppages. We have the ability to dray and transload containers as they arrive at the Ports and truck cross border to avoid the rail completely and get containers moving faster than they would even hit the rail. We handle all major Canadian ports (Prince Rupert & Vancouver BC, Montreal QC, and Halifax NS) for intra-Canada and cross border over the road options. Contact Rachel and the Canadian team at canada@portxlogistics.com if you have questions about how the rail strike could affect your supply chain and how we can help!
Import TEUs are up 7.6% this week from last, the heaviest volume this week arriving to Los Angeles 19.9% of incoming TEU volume, Long Beach 16.1% of incoming TEU volume and Newark 14.7% of incoming TEU volume.
The water level in Panama Canal is still a serious problem, as of Tuesday water levels were at 81.2 Feet, the lowest levels since 1965, and the water levels are expected to hit below 80 feet by April. Currently the Panama Canal passes around 18 vessels per day, down from what was projected to be 24 per day at the beginning of the year. More vessels are passing through the Cape of Good Hope to avoid Panama and Suez Canals, and transit times are increasing to upwards of 14 days. As the Panama Canal and Red Sea shipping Crisis continues, the need for expediting containerized cargo will continue to grow. Rail dwell times will start increasing and inland U.S. rail ramps are starting to see chassis and equipment shortages. Port X Logistics is the Gold Standard in expedited drayage, transloading and trucking. We track your containers from the overseas port until it reaches North America, dray your containers from Port or rail, transload with plenty of photos provided and once ready to load out to outbound trucks, we always include a shareable tracking link to track your final deliveries in real time. Contact us for all your U.S. and Canada transload needs – 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
Port & Rail Updates
Savannah: The Savannah Ports have been booming as many shippers have routed containers though to avoid the Panama Canal situation. Even with an increase in import volumes over the past few weeks, we continue to have open capacity for drayage and a full service transload warehouse for all your transload needs. For great rates and greater customer service Contact SAV@portxlogistics.com
Vancouver/Prince Rupert: Rail Dwell times are between 3-7 days at VAN and PRR and could be increasing as the threat of a rail strike moves closer. If you want to find out how to avoid the rails completely contact Canada@portxlogistics.com for some seriously smart solutions
Did you know? Airport wait times since February 11th have increased at JFK, CLT, and DTW ?
Did you also know? We have a solution that can help mitigate wait times for your airfreight cargo – Carrier911! Our Carrier911 team can get most trucks onsite at the airport for pickup within 1 hour. We have cargo vans, straight trucks, dry vans and specialized equipment for all your urgent air freight needs and we are available 24/7/365. All shipments will have shareable real time driver tracking links and a POD at your fingertips at time of delivery – to learn more or if you have an need for an urgent bail out contact the team at info@carrier911.com and follow the Carrier911 Linkedin page for our unique experiences.
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