North-American rail

As port volumes plunge along the West Coast, the downstream effects will likely be felt in the coming months, with softening demand to move freight into middle America on trucks and trains.

Relative stability may indicate that during the coming trade war, transloading could fare better than inland point intermodal, writes Larry Gross.

Rapidly growing occurrences of cargo theft in the US have compelled two early-stage technology companies to use data around truckload movements to assist law enforcement.

Insufficient volumes, including on the lane between the Port of Virginia and Memphis, have forced the railroad to reallocate resources to areas where it believes container business will grow in the future.

Cargo theft in trucking and on the rails has been a problem for years, but it’s getting harder to combat as criminals become more sophisticated in their tactics.

Inclement weather, the lingering effects of labor disruptions and a January surge in imports contributed to the fifth consecutive month of excessive rail dwells at Canada’s largest port.

Damage from last fall’s Hurricane Helene continues to affect CSX’s operations in the Southeast, while the fast-tracking of construction work at Baltimore’s Howard Street Tunnel provides another challenge.

The expedited service will require terminals within the Northwest Seaport Alliance to load rail-bound trains within 48 hours of vessel arrival, significantly faster than the average dwell times of eight to 15 days experienced last year during a surge in container volumes.

The initiative, called RailGreen, will allow intermodal customers to purchase verified carbon certificates reflecting their use of lower-emission freight options.

The deal comes as the world’s largest container shipping company looks to establish a bigger foothold in surface transportation.

The port authority on Wednesday completed an expansion of Inland Port Greer ahead of the opening of the near-dock Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF) at the Port of Charleston later this year.

Despite the month-over-month downturn, Los Angeles-Long Beach volumes were higher than a year ago as Southern California’s freight boom did not begin until the second quarter of last year.

Executives from CSX and Norfolk Southern say that while the market is no longer as strongly pro-shipper as it was a year ago, conditions have yet to shift in favor of rail carriers.

Reshuffling port calls because of a potential Trump administration fee on Chinese-built and -operated ships would place additional strain on the US intermodal supply chain, railroad executives say.

Kate Farmer told TPM25 that people would be “shocked” at how much money the oft-targeted railroad spends on combating the increasingly sophisticated methods of cargo theft.

The Barstow International Gateway (BIG) could cut transit times on international intermodal business and increase the resiliency of Southern California ports during freight surges, BNSF CEO Kate Farmer said.

Tariff concerns and fears of labor unrest helped grow volumes at key ports along the West Coast last month, with the gains coming at the expense of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

The latest Journal of Commerce Intermodal Service Scorecard shows how the performance of North American Class I railroads suffered due to congestion caused by high cargo volumes in Southern California and severe weather in the Southeast.

While tariffs and the trade wars that could result are indeed a serious matter, the direct effects of potential US tariffs on Canada and Mexico on the North American intermodal market would be “relatively minor,” writes Larry Gross.

The ocean carrier is diving into domestic intermodal logistics for shippers sending freight from inland markets to the West Coast.

In terms of raw dollars, intermodal shippers saved an average of $741 per container versus truckload for spot market transactions across the 120 lanes in the Journal of Commerce Intermodal Savings Index, up from $649 one year ago.

A spokesperson for NS says requiring truckers to have appointments to pick up containers at the Chicago facility allows for “stack grooming,” meaning it gives the railroad information in advance on which boxes to make available.

The planned development in Eastern Canada marks the latest stage in a nearly two-year-old partnership between the company and the Class I railroad.

The effort coincides with UP’s plans to open a new terminal in Kansas City, Kansas, in the third quarter of this year that would alleviate pressure on the railroad’s existing terminal across the border in Missouri.

The former Wisconsin congressman and Fox Business host was confirmed by a 77-22 vote on Tuesday.

The largest intermodal provider in the US says it’s time for shippers to talk about higher rates for service but understands the shift is not likely to occur until the second half of the year.

The Barstow International Gateway will be a transloading hub where the contents of ocean containers come to be transferred into 53-foot domestic containers to travel inland, ensuring quicker turnarounds of ocean boxes moving back to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Projections for North American intermodal will likely be upended by some “black swan” event that isn’t even on the radar right now as there seems to be no shortage of potential hot spots and disruptors looming, writes Larry Gross.

Domestic intermodal providers are frustrated that they’ve been unable to win significant rate increases in contracts in early 2025, but capacity in trucking and rail is still abundant and easy to procure.

A confluence of factors, including vessel bunching at Asian load ports and a pre-Lunar New Year cargo surge, have combined to cause congestion at the port and reduce its railcar availability.

It’s important for railroads to prevent export containers from clogging their terminals because domestic and international intermodal cargo share terminal space.

Despite the kudos for railroads, some market players question the value of pandemic-era comparisons, suggesting that 2024’s peak season aligns more closely with pre-pandemic trends.

It’s difficult to imagine international intermodal growing much more, if at all, on the US West Coast in 2025.

The considerable intermodal ocean volumes that ordinarily would have moved in 2025 have likely been pulled forward into 2024, writes analyst Larry Gross.

With a prolonged peak season, some non-asset-based intermodal marketing companies are reporting difficulties securing rail-owned containers and slots on trains in Chicago, Portland and Oakland over the past month.

The opening of a second span across the Laredo border will benefit CPKC trains to Atlanta and Chicago along with other transport providers such as Union Pacific Railroad and its customers.

Rail executives assured investors that the availability of labor and other nearshoring opportunities in Mexico will keep North American trade strong, regardless of tariffs.

While some shippers say they are still facing a measure of disruption, CSX says it has recovered following a rough patch in keeping cargo flowing through central Florida after hurricanes Helene and Milton battered the state.

The new charges apply to both spot market business originating in Southern California and to contractual agreements when weekly limits are surpassed by shippers using rail-owned containers.

While intermodal providers increased pricing in Southern California, truckload carriers also raised rates as demand grew with surging port volumes, negating any modal shifts based on budgetary concerns, the latest Journal of Commerce Intermodal Savings Index showed.