OTTAWA MOVES FAST TO END CANADIAN RAIL SHUTDOWN
The Canadian rail strike ended yesterday some 18 hours after it started as authorities moved rapidly to avert an economic disaster. Canada’s two biggest railways shut down yesterday after a midnight deadline passed without an agreement overpay conditions. The stoppage of work by 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers at Canadian National Railway Co (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) marked the first-ever simultaneous shutdown at the country’s main railroad operators. However, the Canadian government moved quickly to get the country’s industrial relations board to issue a back-to-work order with the railroad companies ending their lockout yesterday evening and trains expected to restart operating within days. As well as requesting a back-to-work order, Steven MacKinnon, Canada’s labour minister, asked the board to start a process of binding arbitration between the Teamsters union and the companies, and extend the terms of the current labour agreements until new agreements have been signed. CN said yesterday it could take the company a week or more to catch up on shipments.
PANAMA CANAL SEEKS MORE LONG-TERM CLIENTS
A new long-term slot allocation will come into effect at the Panama Canal from the start of October. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said yesterday that the introduction of this new method for its larger neopanamax locks has been designed to increase transit certainty and flexibility. Through this method, several transit booking slot packages will be offered to different market segments meaning a single client will be able to obtain multiple bookings in one transaction. The sealed bidding process for the first calendar year period covers booking dates from January 5, 2025, to January 3, 2026. Having been battered by a severe drought for 12 months from May last year, the ACP has been working out solutions to ensure greater water security. Preparations for a $2bn expansion of one of the canal’s water reservoirs, following approval by Panama’s Supreme Court, are expected to take 18 to 24 months, the ACP revealed yesterday.
NY-NJ PORTS ENJOY RECORD MONTH
The Port of New York-New Jersey recorded its busiest July ever, surpassing 800,000 twenty-foot equivalent units on surging inbound container flows as importers moved early on back-to-school and end-of-year holiday inventory ahead of a host of issues clouding the global supply chain. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in a release said July was the seventh-busiest month in the port’s history and the first month that total volume reached 800,000 TEUs since September 2022. New York-New Jersey is the second-busiest gateway in the country for loaded cargo so far this year, trailing only the combined port complex of Los Angeles and Long Beach in San Pedro, Calif. July 2024’s total was up 11% from the same month a year ago and 4% over July 2022, the month’s previous record. Volume was 14% ahead of June 2024. North American container ports have seen a surge in early peak season volumes as shippers look to avoid delays caused by attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, and from potential issues at East and Gulf Coast ports following warnings by the International Longshoremen’s Association that it will strike if a new contract is not in place by Oct. 1.
OCEAN CARRIERS DEBUT BOEING 777 FREIGHTERS ON ASIA ROUTES
Two cargo airlines owned by major European ocean shipping companies have begun operating routes out of Asia with new Boeing 777 freighters in response to market signals for more export capacity in the region. On Tuesday, CMA CGM Air Cargo announced that it has commenced trans-Pacific commercial service with the first of three 777-200 cargo jets ordered from Boeing. The inaugural flight took place Sunday from Hong Kong to Chicago with a refuelling stop in Anchorage, Alaska. On the backhaul trip, the aircraft operates to Hong Kong via Seoul, South Korea. CMA CGM, one of the world’s largest container lines and logistics providers, is outsourcing aircraft operations to all-cargo operator Atlas Air, as previously reported. The Paris-based freighter airline needs Atlas Air to fly across the Pacific because it doesn’t have traffic rights from the United States to transport goods from another country without first stopping in its home country. The introduction of the 777 freighter is a significant step in the expansion of CMA CGM Air Cargo’s fledgling network as routes from Asia to North America typically command much higher yields than in other regions.
