Terminal Operations Report

gantry cranes at port terminal

During this unprecedented time dealing with extreme conditions at ports, Worldwide Logistics Group continues to keep customers informed. Here is an update on conditions at North American terminals. Please contact us if you need more information.

LAX/LGB Terminal:

  • 35 ships are at anchor awaiting berths as of last Friday, February 12; two less than from the end of the January.
  • Import volumes continue spiking causing major port congestion.
  • Covid-19 continues to strain the ports causing restricted labor and break shifts and delays in vessels operations. The slow down in labor continues to domino through the supply chain affecting turnaround times for truckers, inter terminal transfers and daily appointments for gate transactions.
  • Customers are advised to speed up the pickup of import containers.
  • Owing to lack of space due to port congestion, vessel terminal assignments may be transferred, which must be taken into account when accepting overweight bookings that are meant to go on dock but end up in the wrong terminal or the UP off dock terminal.
  • Hapag-Lloyd is currently shut out at some terminals limiting single empty returns and restricting dual transactions.
  • Trucking is severely delayed on all door and ramp intermodal transfers. 

Oakland Terminal:

  • There are 10 ships at anchor in San Francisco Bay awaiting berths as of last Friday, February 12; one less than from the end of the January.
  • Vessel bunching continues with 10% labor reduction due to COVID-19 concerns.
  • Oakland’s move count is up, particularly the amount of restows as some vessel strings have also diverted to call Oakland in advance of LAX/LGB, contributing to the number of ships off pro forma. PMA is working to train additional labor in an effort to increase the labor pool. All berths are full.

New York Terminal:

  • Slightly good news here as berth congestion has slightly decreased with vessel waiting times of one to two days.
  • Weather is the biggest cause of congestion here and delays will continue into next week.
  • Dwell times are still high and issues with large amounts of empty containers persist.
  • Gate turn times for truckers are still above normal at all terminals. To help with this, all terminals were open during recent holidays and many are offering Saturday hours.
  • Covid-19 cases continue to increase but are currently not creating labor shortages.

Savannah Terminal:

  • There’s an increase in ships at anchor awaiting terminal clearance. As of Friday, February 12, 16 ships were at anchor awaiting berths; an increase of six.
  • There are a variety of factors causing congestion. Persistent fog has been one of the issues. Lack of normal fluidity is another as import dwellings are shifting to Ocean Terminal for pick up to make room for incoming imports at the pads. Lastly, extra loader vessels continue to arrive exacerbating berth congestion

Canadian Terminal and Rail Delays:

Terminals:

  • Yards utilization is up in Vancouver as a result of high import volumes which is expected to last into second quarter. Delayed vessels and a reduction in car supply have slowed productivity.
  • VAN and PRR is experience long berth delays.
  • Current Dwell Times:
    Halifax: 1.9 days
    Montreal: 3.2 days
    Vancouver: 3.0 days
    Prince Rupert: 9.8 days

Rails:

  • Severe cold across the Canada is causing shorter trains and reduced speeds with both CN and CP. This is expected to continue through the week.
  • Current Rail Dwell Times:
  • Montreal: 1.6 days
  • Vancouver: 6.0 days

Intermodal Operations:

Below are the volume spikes and driver shortages. Estimated lead-time to secure capacity are below:

  • Market / Average 12-days+:
    • Los Angeles, CA (30 days +)
    • Long Beach, CA (30 days +)
    • Atlanta, GA (15 days)
    • Baltimore, MD (14 days)
    • Memphis, TN (14 days)
    • New York, NY (15days)
    • Norfolk, VA (14 days)
    • Savannah, GA (15 days)
  • Markets / Average 7-days+:
    • Charleston, SC
    • Charlotte, NC
    • Columbus, OH
    • Dallas, TX
    • Houston, TX
    • Jacksonville, FL
    • Miami/PT. Everglades, FL
    • Kansas City, MO
    • New Orleans, LA
    • Philadelphia, PA
    • Seattle, WA
    • Tacoma, WA
  • Markets/Average 4-days +:
    • Birmingham, AL
    • Boston, MA
    • Buffalo, NY
    • Chicago, IL
    • Cincinnati, OH
    • Council Bluff, IA
    • Greensboro, NC
    • Greer, SC
    • Huntsville, AL
    • Indianapolis, IN
    • Laredo, TX
    • Louisville, KY
    • Minneapolis, MN
    • Oakland, CA
    • Pittsburgh, PA
    • Portland, OR
    • Salt Lake City, UT
    • Santa Teresa, NM
  • Chassis Pools:
    • Minneapolis (USMES) – Deficit on all chassis types, longer dwells on street.
    • Chicago (USCHI) – Constrained on 20’/40’* chassis due to surge in demand.
    • Detroit (USDET) – Deficit on 40’/45’ chassis due demand and street dwells.
    • Omaha (USOMA) – Deficit on 40’/45’ chassis due to street dwells.
    • Tacoma (USTIW) – Constrained on all chassis sizes at certain terminals due to restricted receiving
    • Oakland (USOAK) – Constrained on all size types chassis due high demands.
    • Los Angeles / Long Beach (USLAX/USLGB) – Pool of Pools seeing stressed chassis inventory in all terminal locations.

Railway Operations:

  • Please Note: Current average dwell times for Hapag-Lloyd boxes at several terminals/ramps. Includes, MH, rail and truck moves.
    • New York, NY – Average 6.4 days
    • MMR New York (Elizabeth Marine Terminal-Rail) – Average 3.0 days
    • Long Beach, CA – Average 10.7 days
    • Los Angeles, CA – Average 13.6 days
    • Charleston, SC – Average 2.7 days
    • Savannah, GA – Average 5.3 days
    • Norfolk, VA – Average 3.3 days
    • Kansas City, MO – Average 5.6 days
    • Chicago, IL – Average 5.9 days
    • Memphis, TN – Average 2.3 days
    • Detroit, MI – Average 5.7 days