U.S. Household Goods Update

The U.S. continues to face logistics concerns everywhere, and the situation is so deep that major news outlets are reporting on the shipping crisis.

Southern California Still No Relief

California ports have seen minimal relief, even with new efforts to unclog some of the extreme congestion they have been facing. An effort to clear the ports was put into place by the Biden administration, charging long-dwelling containers $100 per day, with the fee increasing by $100 each day they dwell. The ports have also extended their gate times to accommodate earlier morning pickups in an effort to remove containers faster. However, the issue of finding available truckers to remove these containers remains a very large problem. The issues extend out from there, with chassis and equipment being vastly unavailable and warehouses filled to capacity. Earlier this week, approximately 90 vessels were anchored off the California coast waiting to berth, meaning half a million containers stuck in limbo.

East Coast Issues

Ports in Northeast states such as New York, New Jersey, and Maryland are also facing heavy congestion. The bottlenecks in these states are no different than seen elsewhere, where a lack of trucking resources is putting everything weeks behind schedule. New York has a multitude of congestion fees tacked on by trucking companies, making the cost of delivering containers close in price to ocean freight.

Trucking Continues to Halt Operations

The issue of securing a trucker is a national issue. There has not been a reduction in the overall number of truckers available, but rather there are not enough truckers to handle the increase in import containers. This bottleneck of service has a compounding issue on all aspects of logistics. Congestion at ports, packed rail yards, equipment imbalances, overly crowded warehouses, and additional issues are all connected and affect one another. For the time being, we advise to expect delays and increased costs for demurrage and emergency fees.

Chassis issues are prevalent throughout the U.S. due to the division of the intermodal system, COVID-19 related issues, and the lack of additional capacity at different levels of the supply chain.

West Coast

• BNSF & UP/LAX/LGB: Import rails units are facing extreme congestions with limited gate capacity, shortages, and restrictions.
• LA/LB Ports: As of November 24^th, 98 vessels are waiting to berth; congestion, delays, and limited capacity are prevalent. Delays can be as much as 6 weeks.
• Seattle: 21-day vessel wait time is to be expected due to congestion, labor shortages, and lack of trucking.
• Oakland: 1-week vessel wait time is to be expected due to congestion, labor shortages, and lack of trucking.
• Western Canada: Severe rainfall has resulted in landslides causing delays and closures. The port of Vancouver has significant delays in all aspects of transportation.

East Coast

• Chicago Rail Ramp: Experiencing severe congestion due to dwelling containers and chassis shortages. Only 10 spots open daily. Chicago’s issues are affecting most other major rails, as equipment is imbalanced and scarce.
• Philadelphia: Vessel wait time is up to 2 days due to high import volume.
• Savannah: Vessel wait time is up to 9 days due to off proforma vessels and high import volume. Carriers are advancing cut-offs with little to no notice.
• Charleston: Vessel wait time is up to 6 days due to off proforma vessels and infrastructure repair.
• Port Everglades and Miami: Vessel wait time is up to 3 days due to high import volume and CFS backlog, equipment shortages, and labor shortages. Allocation and blank sailings are in effect in Miami.

Worldwide

• The China-U.S. lane incurs heightened rates.
• Australia and New Zealand – Steamship lines are not providing availability.
• COVID-19 lockdowns are picking up in Europe again. For example, Austria went into lockdown the week of November 22^nd. COVID-related shutdowns are slow to recover from as staff is often limited when the region reopens.

Rail/ Ramp Terminals Nationwide

• BNSF & UP/LAX/LGB: Import rail units are facing extreme congestion with limited gate capacity, shortages, and restrictions.
• Chicago Rail Ramp: Experiencing severe congestion due to dwelling containers and chassis shortages. Only 10 spots open daily. Chicago’s issues are affecting most other major rails, as equipment is imbalanced and scarce.
• NY/NJ: Chassis shortage is causing delays.
• Philadelphia: Severe chassis shortages, extended delays in pick-ups, deliveries, and drayage.
• Charleston: Severe chassis shortages, extended delays in pick-ups, deliveries, and drayage.
• Savannah: Severe chassis shortages, extended delays in pick-ups, deliveries, and drayage. The Georgia Port Authority has planned to use inland locations as temporary emergency container yards to relieve congestion.
• Jacksonville and Miami: The rail congestion in Chicago is affecting services out of Miami. The shortage of equipment in Florida can create delays up to 2 weeks.
• Seattle: Up to 10 days delay for cargo going to Chicago. Limited trucker capacity; most truckers are booked 2 weeks or more in advance. Long waiting line for export/import.
• Houston/Dallas: There is a severe chassis shortage and ongoing congestion. Truckers are booked up to 3 weeks in advance.

Service Announcements

• BNSF announced an embargo to Los Angeles for all cargo to LAX/Hobart, affecting operations from Chicago. BNSF closure has been suspended for LAX bound. There is very limited allocation in Los Angeles; containers can wait up to 20 days before being picked up.
• Hamburg Sud has stopped taking bookings for all cargo moving to Pier A in Long Beach. No rail billing will be issued during this time from origins such as Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Louisville, Memphis, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.

Container Dwell Fee

The U.S. administration’s proposed port Container Dwell Fee (CDF) of $100 per day was slated to go into effect on November 22^nd. Since the fee was proposed, some of the U.S. West Coast ports, in particular the Port of LA/Long Beach, reported a sizeable decline in cargo waiting on docks. The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is reassessing cargo movement this week and may delay further CDF Implementation if waiting cargo continues to clear up.

Earliest Return Dates (ERD) and Cargo Cut Off Dates

To further reduce port congestion and manage only the containers which are currently being loaded, steamship lines are reducing the gap between the Earliest Return Date (ERD) and the Cargo Cut Off dates. This means that cargo may only be delivered closer to the Cut Off date, resulting in fewer containers at port awaiting departure.

This decreased timeframe allows proper planning with trucking companies to pick up and deliver the container within the short window. Some windows are a matter of only 8 hours.

Port Turn-Around Timeframes

Vessel turn-around times continue to be a challenge for the ports. Port congestion and backlog means late arrivals and unloading, and in turn, late loading and departure. An average U.S. export receives 3 to 8 vessel updates, adjusting arrival, cut off dates, ERDs, and departure dates.

Some shipments receive multiple updates in the same day. The Aires Logistics department manages each shipment and tracks daily updates in the Aires IRIS Shipment program.

Aires Continues to Seek Solutions

The Aires Logistics team is always seeking new trucking services and fosters strong connections with the trucking companies we have known and worked with for years. Our goal is to offer solutions and keep prices down. We monitor the current state of logistics on a daily basis.