963 words 4 minute read – Let’s do this!
Spring is here – can you even believe it? We have had a few days of snow this week in Buffalo, so it’s a typical Spring start around here. Also, Do you have your brackets ready for the weekend? March Madness is here too and I would love to hear your picks and plans for the March Madness weekend.
As March and Q1 are coming to an end, Disruption continues to hover in 2024 in many forms – The Panama Canal/Suez Canal situations are still putting strain on ocean transit times and a rail strike in Canada is a possibility. All pending disruptions point to the need for transload solutions and Port X Logistics IS the Gold Standard in drayage, transloading and trucking. We track your containers from the time they leave overseas, dray your containers from any portland rail 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 we can get your containers drayed, transloaded and trucked with full visibility – Cross border into and out of the U.S. included, contact Letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com
Some rail news: As of Tuesday, Norfolk Southern Railway now requires truckers to make an appointment to pick up import loads at its terminal in Austell, GA, just outside of Atlanta. Computer software will use the appointment data to place containers going out of the gate at the top of the stack and long-dwelling containers at the bottom, allowing for quicker truck turns. Six electric overhead cranes will manage Austell’s stack of containers. Ocean containers will also be placed into stacks rather than transferring loads from the train to a chassis and placed into a parking spot. The process is similar to how the Port of Virginia saves time by sorting through their stacks based on what containers are moving out soonest, and minimizing the need to break up stacks to get a container on the bottom.
Once the Austell launch is complete, Norfolk Southern plans on putting an appointment system in its Landers (Chicago) terminal where the railroad handles ocean containers.
Import TEUs are up 12.82% this week from last, the heaviest volume this week arriving to New Jersey Port 15.7% of incoming TEU volume, Long Beach 15.5% of incoming TEU volume and Los Angeles 13.1% of incoming TEU volume. Next week is a short week with the Good Friday holiday, so we could see some congestion in some port and rail areas trickling through early April.
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
Oakland: There have been some delays in container availability and containers going into closed areas for a week and more with free days being updated. Shippers Transport no longer has a contract to dray containers to their yard, and SSA unloads containers and places them in enclosed areas – we have been seeing some containers with “moved off-dock” status for over 2 weeks. These off-dock containers can create more congestion, especially with the upcoming holiday. We have plenty of drayage capacity available in Oakland but spots are filling in fast, send us your orders soon and we will guarantee capacity with our “No Demurrage Guarantee” for orders sent 72 hours prior vessel arrival. Contact the Oakland team Oakland@portxlogistics.com for more info.
Charleston: Exciting news for the Port of Charleston – The South Carolina State Ports Authority (SC Ports) board of directors approved the purchase of a 280-acre property formerly occupied by a WestRock paper mill. The WestRock site will double North Charleston’s berth space from 2,460 linear feet to 5,000 feet. SC Ports is hoping to eventually bring ships of 15,000 TEUs and larger to North Charleston. Current ship sizes are limited to 8,000 TEUs. More exciting news – we have drayage capacity in Charleston and we can haul hazmat containers too! Don’t forget we also have drayage capacity in Savannah as well as a full service transload warehouse for your Savannah cross dock needs. Contact our South Atlantic team at sav@portxlogistics.com for great rates and immediate capacity!
Chicago: Drivers are still having excess wait time at NS Landers. To help alleviate some of the congestion, they are adding another crane at the NS Landers terminal in Q2. Chicago railways are getting busier and our Chicago asset drayage team has full capacity to get your Chicago containers moving. We have 80 trucks and secured yard space and we are able to secure permits to haul heavy containers. For great rates, capacity and supreme customer service contact Danny and the team letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com
Did you know? We’re proud sponsors of the Empire State Ride, a 500+ mile journey from NYC to Niagara Falls in just 7 days! This year marks the 10th anniversary of this awesome ride, and our goal is to reach a collective $10 million raised for cancer research. To learn more about ESR, and how you can help support, donate and volunteer, contact marketing@portxlogistics.com and visit their website.
SONAR Images
