CLASS I RAILROADS, MOBILE PORT GET MORE TIME TO WORK DEAL WITH AMTRAK
The US Surface Transportation Board has given CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile more time to reach an agreement with Amtrak over the restart of a Gulf Coast passenger service.
NY-NJ PORT TRUCKERS TEPID ON SATURDAY TERMINAL GATES
NY-NJ marine terminals have been almost constantly offering Saturday gates over the last two years to help move import volumes, but those gates have accounted for only about 5 percent of total truck transactions.
REVISED AEC ROTATION GIVES JAXPORT QUICKER LINK TO ASIA
The Asia East Coast service will offer one of the fastest transits between the US Southeast and Asian ports, cutting a week of travel time for Jacksonville importers.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S CONTAINERSHIP BACKUP AT LOWEST LEVEL SINCE LOGJAM BEGAN
The number of container ships headed for the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — a traffic jam that once symbolized American consumer vigour during the pandemic — declined to the lowest level since the bottleneck started to build two years ago. Eight vessels were in the official queue as of late Monday, according to data from the Marine Exchange of Southern California & Vessel Traffic Service Los Angeles and Long Beach. That’s an all-time low, officials said in a statement, down from a record of 109 set in January and about 40 lined up a year ago.LA-Long Beach’s bottleneck became one of the most enduring images of the supply-and-demand imbalances triggered by Covid-19 lockdowns. The backlog forced ships to wait two weeks or more, contributing to record-high ocean freight rates that helped ignite inflation now afflicting economies from the US to Europe. According to the most recent count from Hapag-Lloyd AG, Germany’s biggest container carrier, a total of about 75 ships were anchored outside the ports of New York, Houston, and Savannah, Georgia. The company also said dwell times for Port of Los Angeles import cargo has declined to 4.2 days from a peak of 11 days. That improved flow marks a turnaround from a year ago, when East Coast ports with excess cargo-handling capacity invited shipping lines to divert around Southern California to their less-congested gateways.
FMC APPROVES YANG MING SERVICE CONTRACT COMPLAINT SETTLEMENT WITH SHIPPER
The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has approved the decision to settle a complaint against Yang Ming by Achim Importing Co out of court. The claim against Yang Ming has been “dismissed with prejudice”, said FMC documents released on Monday. The details of the settlement have not been disclosed and The Loadstar contacted Yang Ming for comment but had not received a response by the time it went to press. The initial complaint, filed in March, was regarding an alleged breach of the minimum quantity commitment (MQC) of a service contract. Service contracts allow shippers to ensure they will have sufficient freight capacity available. It was claimed by Achim, a New York-based furnishings company, that instead of honouring the pricing and MQC commitment in its service contract, Yang Ming systematically favoured other shippers, including spot market purchasers willing to pay higher rates. The one-year contract agreed between Yang Ming and Achim in May 2020 granted Achim 200 teu of capacity on Yang Ming’s vessels. However, it was alleged by Achim that only 31 teu was made available within the agreed time. As a result, Achim had to obtain space for its cargo on the spot market instead, costing the firm over $1.3m. Achim argued that this breach of contract by Yang Ming was “a knowing and deliberate attempt to manipulate market pricing”.
GOING NUTS: WALNUT EXPORTERS LOOK FOR WAYS AROUND CLOGGED US PORT
US nut exporters — fed up with delays at California’s Port of Oakland — are in talks with top steamship and rail carriers for a new trade route to get their products overseas. Northern California farm groups — including those representing walnut, wine and rice shippers — have had discussions with BNSF Railway Co., the largest US railway, CMA CGM SA, the world’s No. 3 container-shipping line, as well as state officials on a plan to haul containers from California’s Central Valley to the biggest US port in Los Angeles.
Chassis pools
- MINNEAPOLIS / St. PAUL – Deficit on 20’, 40’ and 45’ chassis. • CHICAGO – Deficit on 40’ chassis
- CLEVELAND – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- COLUMBUS – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- DETRIOT – Constrained on 40’ chassis
- INDIANAPOLIS – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- MEMPHIS – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- DALLAS / Ft. WORTH – Deficit on 40’ chassis
- EL PASO – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- SAN ANTONIO – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- BALTIMORE – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- KANSAS CITY – Deficit on 40’ and 45’ chassis
- OMAHA – Deficit on 40’ and 45’ chassis.
- St. LOUIS – Deficit 40’ and 45’ chassis.
- LOS ANGELES/LONG BEACH – Constrained on 40’ chassis.
- DENVER – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
