A flood of imports into the Pacific Northwest is boosting spot truckload rates out of Seattle as shippers facing delays and intermodal container shortages seek new routes for freight moving inland.
Coronavirus Effect on Supply Chains
Coronavirus Effect on Supply Chains
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is upending global container volume demand and rippling through containerized supply chains. That's sending shockwaves to all freight transport modes, from trucking to air cargo.
The widening impact COVID-19 is having on retail and manufacturing demand is creating the need for two importing speeds. Cargo owners such as apparel and automotive importers want to delay receiving goods for now-closed brick-and-mortar stores and production lines, whereas importers shipping personal protective equipment (PPE) and essential household consumer goods want them faster. Against that backdrop, carriers, forwarders, port authorities, and marine terminals are warning of a cargo bottleneck if more Western importers fail to pick up containers when they arrive, causing port congestion and inland equipment shortages that will slow down the broader supply chain.
Bookmark this special page for regular updates on how the industry is responding.
News & Analysis
13 Oct 2021
Even as the Biden administration works to ease US port congestion, fresh data on September imports from Asia shows stakeholders have their work cut out for them.
30 Sep 2021
The import surge in Seattle-Tacoma this past month has filled local warehouses beyond capacity, crippling the transportation supply chain in the Pacific Northwest.
24 Sep 2021
Pinched at both Asian load ports and US receiving ports, trans-Pacific carriers in August registered their fourth consecutive month of deteriorating on-time performance.
23 Sep 2021
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and their terminal operators seek quick relief from congestion problems as vessel bunching reaches historic levels.
23 Sep 2021
A rapid evolution in how US shippers contract with truckload carriers is driving growth at Emerge and drawing $130 million in fresh private equity funding to its digital procurement platform.
22 Sep 2021
Chassis providers warn that only the easing of import volumes, and the resulting reversal of rising dwell times, will relieve tightness in equipment supply as production capacity is maxed out.
21 Sep 2021
Demand fueled tonnage growth at for-hire contract carriers in August, according to the American Trucking Associations, but supply chain disruption and shortages still constrain overall capacity.
20 Sep 2021
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach promise quick action to extend gate hours amid record cargo volumes, but their suggestions need buy-in from terminal operators, truckers, and shippers.
17 Sep 2021
Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announce new measures and incentives to speed cargo velocity as near-record freight volumes show no signs of slowing and congestion mounts.
17 Sep 2021
Their shared experience amid COVID-19 has brought longshore labor and employers on the West and East coasts closer together and is helping the ports to handle record cargo volumes this year, terminal operators said.
15 Sep 2021
The failure of importers to move their containers from the docks to their warehouses in a timely manner is the root cause of congestion at both East and West coast ports, terminal operators say.
14 Sep 2021
Reduced harvesting in Asia has created additional demand for agricultural goods from the US and Australia, but a shortage of intra-Asia feeder ships is preventing exporters from taking full advantage.
13 Sep 2021
Iowa-based CRST is installing a telematics-based fleet management system the truckload carrier claims will benefit both drivers and shippers seeking supply chain intelligence.
10 Sep 2021
Asset providers say it will be difficult in the short term to satisfy the transportation requirements needed to handle growing cargo volumes in Southern California.
09 Sep 2021
Although monthly year-over-year import growth will be minimal during the peak season, import volumes will still be at near-record levels as they are benchmarked off of unusually large volumes in the second half of 2020.
07 Sep 2021
Less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion Freight Line hopes to counter the threat of COVID-19 to its own employees and its customers with a financial vaccination incentive.
07 Sep 2021
When ships sit outside ports and containers are not picked up and returned quickly, that loss of effective capacity causes record spot rates, high demurrage and detention costs, and lengthening transit times.
03 Sep 2021
Los Angeles-Long Beach terminal operators are pulling out all stops to handle a record 20 million TEU of laden and empty containers this year with the peak season now in full swing.
30 Aug 2021
New data on the explosion of capacity being deployed in the Asia-US trade indicates there will likely be sufficient capacity to handle projected import volumes for the rest of the year, but the effective capacity will be reduced by port congestion in the US and Asia.
27 Aug 2021
Johnsonville Transport & Logistics, an arm of Wisconsin-based sausage giant Johnsonville, is looking to collaborate with its retail customers and other food shippers and carriers to solve truck capacity, delivery challenges.
26 Aug 2021
Schedule reliability continued to suffer in July in the eastbound trans-Pacific as carriers were challenged by port congestion issues and extra-loaders and new services that complicated cargo-handling operations at marine terminals.
26 Aug 2021
Carriers that had struggled to find ships to deploy in new services in the booming trans-Pacific say their main challenge now is to find space at West Coast terminals.
24 Aug 2021
A rising tide of late shipments in the trans-Pacific trade is tying knots in US surface transportation networks and increasing the need for safety stock.
24 Aug 2021
There is little clarity in Shanghai airport’s evolving COVID-19 lockdown situation, with forwarders in China asked not to deliver export cargo to the terminals and airlines suspending inbound shipments.
24 Aug 2021
Previously reserved for lower-quality “value wines,” flexitanks, which are food-grade bladders inserted into dry containers, can carry more than double the liquid volume of product in a single container than glass bottles.
17 Aug 2021
Completion of the Long Beach Container Terminal expansion project provides an additional 1 million TEU in annual capacity as new trans-Pacific services and extra-loader vessels search for terminal space amid record import volumes.
13 Aug 2021
Although US imports from Asia have returned to single-digit growth after 11 consecutive months of double-digit increases, the cargo base is so large that even incremental growth this peak season will result in record import volumes.
13 Aug 2021
President Biden’s recognition of global supply chain challenges draws attention to congestion in the US supply chain and should result in direct measures to mitigate the problems, according to the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.
13 Aug 2021
Maersk’s acquisition of Visible Supply Chain Management last week adds nine fulfillment centers to its distribution network, allowing it to reach 95 percent of the US direct-to-consumer market within 48 hours.
11 Aug 2021
Both of the primary ingredients to the traditional US intermodal peak season — a seasonal increase in demand and an increase in the number of TEU processed — are in question in 2021.
10 Aug 2021
Near record-low vacancy rates at distribution warehouses throughout the US sound the alarm that shippers seeking additional logistics space for the peak season may be out of luck.
29 Jul 2021
The backlog of vessels outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is rapidly approaching levels seen during last year’s peak season due to continued explosive imports and inland rail bottlenecks.
27 Jul 2021
Port congestion, poor ocean shipping reliability, and container scarcity are compounding higher input costs for raw materials, US retailers are telling investors as they warn of increased shipper pressures through the year.
27 Jul 2021
Expectations are that reliability is likely to fall further in the coming months as carriers add new services and deploy extra-loader vessels to meet peak season demand that arrives amid the never-ending onslaught of imports from Asia.
14 Jul 2021
After several months of improving metrics in Los Angeles-Long Beach, key indicators of productivity began to slide in June as vessel bunching, container dwell times, and chassis street dwell times worsened.
- Page 1
- ››
Commentary
Devil in the details for COVID-19 duty deferral
More Commentary