1503 words 5 minute read – Let’s do this!
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has been temporarily pacified until January after winning a 62% wage increase over a six-year contract term and they will bring the contract back to the bargaining table to discuss how they can work with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on January 15th 2025, to further discuss issues such as healthcare, port automation and port safety. You will want to keep an eye on this as the year end progresses so we encourage you to subscribe to the Port X Logistics LLC LinkedIn page for up to date news and solutions for your supply chain, and to get on the list for this weekly Market Update Newsletter and future industry related news sent direct to your inbox email Marketing@portxlogistics.com
It has been one terrible year for hurricane season in the U.S. and this week tops the leaderboard with Hurricane Milton. Milton lashed west Florida and surrounding areas Wednesday night, bringing torrential downpours and winds of 120 mph — strong enough to rip the roof off Tropicana Field, a stadium in St. Petersburg home to the Tampa Bay Rays. The system tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 storm in Siesta Key, about 70 miles south of Tampa. Damage was widespread, and water levels may continue to rise for days, but Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said it was not “the worst-case scenario.” About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. By early Thursday, the hurricane was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 85 mph and leaving the state near Cape Canaveral. The deadly storm surge feared for Tampa never materialized, though the storm dumped up to 18 inches of rain in some areas, the governor said. The worst storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota County, where it was 8 to 10 feet — lower than in the worst place during Hurricane Helene. As dawn hit Thursday morning, storm-surge warnings were still posted for much of the east-central Florida coast and north into Georgia. Tropical storm warnings were in place along the coast into South Carolina.
The Port of Tampa Container Terminal remains closed through Friday the 11th and they are aiming to reopen the terminal Monday October 14th.
JAXPORT (Port of Jacksonville) remains closed today, Thursday, October 10. The port plans to reopen the Main Gates Friday morning, October 11, as soon as post-storm facility assessments are complete.
The Port of Miami is open, all waterslide and landslide restrictions had been lifted by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Whenever supply chain disturbances like port closures directly affect the market, remember Port X Logistics can play a role in helping to improve the flow of your supply chain – 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 and 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.
Import TEUs are up 12.5% from this week from last week – with the volume coming into Long Beach at 20.3%, Los Angeles 18.2% and Newark NJ 12.3%. U.S. retailers are forecasting a modest year-over-year increase in imports this month to close out the 2024 peak shipping season, with most of the holiday merchandise already having entered the country due to the frontloading of imports from Asia this summer. The National Retail Federation (NRF) is forecasting that 2024 retail sales, excluding automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants, will grow between 2.5% and 3.5% over 2023. The latest GPT forecasts that U.S. imports in October will be up 3.1% from October 2023. That is higher than the 1.3% increase it forecast in last month’s report. November imports are now expected to be up 0.9% year over year, down from the previous forecast of a 1.6% increase, while imports in December are projected to be up 0.2%, compared with the previous forecast of a 1.6% increase from December 2023. August saw the highest volume of U.S. imports since the record set in May 2022 due to the frontloading of imports this summer. West Coast ports are expected to outperform East and Gulf coast ports in October as retailers ship their time-sensitive holiday merchandise in time for the Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving.
We could see a bump in Air freight volumes from weather delays or route changes in effort to avoid weather related closures and our Carrier911 team is on standby for your most urgent shipments. We can get your drivers assigned and on site at the airport in most cases within 1 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
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
LA/LGB: Rail dwell times are still slowly increasing, with On-Dock Rail dwell at the Port of Los Angeles is 8.4 days on average. We have immediate capacity to pull your containers for transload to avoid the rail, capacity is tendered to on a first come first serve basis. We also have 66 trucks and a huge amount of yard space to take on your LA and Long Beach drayage moves. Contact CA@portxlogistics.com for all your West Coast drayage, transloading and trucking needs.
Savannah: The GA ports are starting to get back to their normal flow after all the hurricane and strike chaos at the beginning of this month and our capacity is returning to normalcy as well! We have a full service transload warehouse in Savannah and can handle any last-minute urgent transloads and cross docks. Our South Atlantic operation also has a drayage fleet of 12 trucks with drayage service to and from Savannah, Charleston and Jacksonville ports including hazmat as well as container yard space. Contact the team sav@portxlogistics.com for great rates and supreme customer service.
Oakland: Snow chain season is on the horizon for Oakland containers headed towards Lake Tahoe and beyond – just like putting snow tires on your own vehicles doesn’t happen with the snap of a finger or without a labor charge, it takes a lot of effort for drivers to chain their tires to conquer the conditions ahead, while being outside braving the elements in the most unsafe conditions. We have plenty of drayage capacity in Oakland and a transload warehouse on site, if you are looking for coverage, competitive rates or more information about the need and process for snow chains contact our Oakland team Oakland@portxlogistics.com
Did you know? The Port X Logistics team is looking forward to attending the Breakbulk Americas conference next week, with Ryan and Noah representing us at the event. We’re excited for this great opportunity to speak with everyone and discuss how we are working to innovate the project cargo and oversized freight space. If you’ll be there, be sure to connect with Ryan and Noah—they’d be pleased to share how our strategic network, custom tech stack, and amazing service allows us to successfully handle even your most complex shipping needs.
Our dedicated project cargo team is skilled in navigating the complexities of large-scale logistics. From coordinating with multiple on-site parties to managing regulatory compliance, Port X Logistics ensures that every aspect of your project freight is meticulously planned and executed. We have the resources and expertise to manage your most demanding shipments, and our team is continuously growing with talent. To learn more about how the Port X Logistics team can help to lead you to industry expertise contact Jill, Noah, Ryan, and Bo at letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com