T.NETWORK Weekly Market News Update Week 33
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T.NETWORK Weekly Market News Update Week 33
• Brief News
• Restricted Barge Services Continuing as Rhine Water Levels Reach Record Lows
• As Felixstowe Strike Appears Certain, $800M in Lost Trade is Forecast
• Selling Off Excess Inventory; Cotton Drying Up; Promoting Logistics TechFleet
• Main News
❖ USA Advisory: LCL Export & Import Service Delays
❖ Container Dwell Fee Put On Hold Through August 26
❖ China Faces Fiercest Heat Wave In 6 Decades, Forcing Factories To Close
❖ Proposed Southern California Rail-Served Inland Port Gaining Traction
❖ US Warehousing Demand Shifting Inland
❖ Port Projects Pull in Nearly $57M in Infrastructure Grants
❖ Volumes en Route to Savannah Signal September Slowdown: GPA
❖ Plan to End Railroad Contract Dispute Calls for 24% Raises
❖ RoadOne Confirms August Opening of Norfolk Transload Facility
❖ Charleston Rolls Out First Phase of Proprietary Chassis Pool
❖ ‘Dark Clouds’ Hang Over a Slowing Global Air Cargo Market, as Demand Drops 9% in July
❖ TransPacific Weekly Update
❖ Screenshot of Cargo Back Log in the Asian Region - Week 33
❖ Charts of the Week – Week 33
• US Import Port Volumes
❖ USWC Ports Update
• Port of Los Angeles weekly volume
• Port of Long beach weekly volume
“Putting The Fun Back in Freight Forwarding”
Brief News
Restricted Barge Services Continuing as As Felixstowe Strike Appears Certain, barring any further slowdowns or stoppages until August 26, making it unlikely to
overlap with Felixstowe’s stoppage which is scheduled to last to August 29.
Rhine Water Levels Reach Record Lows $800M in Lost Trade is Forecast Russell, however, concludes by saying that it expects the effects of the work
Ships still operating on the Rhine are restricted to carrying 25 to 33 percent of their
There has been no further progress on the plans for a strike by the hourly stoppage at Felixstowe will be registered in the coming weeks and months.
maximum load so they can pass through spots such as Kaub (above), the shallowest dockworkers at the UK’s Port of Felixstowe, making it appear increasingly likely as Source: Maritime-Executive
section of the middle Rhine. Barges are maintaining services along the middle and many as 1,900 people will fail to show up for their shifts starting Sunday. As the reality
upper reaches of the Rhine River in Germany and Switzerland, although they are of further disruption to the already squeezed supply chain sets in, forecasts are that it
severely weight restricted to cope with water levels that have fallen to historic lows
could result in over $800 million in trade being disrupted with the potential for
Selling Off Excess Inventory; Cotton
in some sections. Germany’s Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration continuing effects until the labor dispute is settled. In addition, there is the news that Drying Up; Promoting Logistics TechFleet
(WSV) told JOC.com Tuesday the key waterway that links ports — including Liverpool is set to strike in the following weeks while other ports including those in The retail giant’s comparable-store sales rose 6.5% in the quarter ending July 29,
Rotterdam and Antwerp — with industrial regions of Germany would remain open, Germany are yet to resolve their labor disputes. The Port of Felixstowe operated by the WSJ’s Sarah Nassauer reports, and Walmart claimed progress in paring its glut
and barge companies would decide on their own whether to operate services. “The Hutchison is saying that it is taking steps to manage next week during the strike. In a of goods as the value of merchandise in stock fell 2% from the first quarter. That
WSV will not declare parts of the Rhine closed to commercial barge traffic,” agency message released by Hutchison to the carriers and shippers as well as truckers was still 25% ahead of last year’s second quarter, a measure of the steep imbalance
spokesperson Florian Krekel said. “It is part of the daily business in inland working at the port, they said, “Customers are advised that in the event of industrial in supplies that Walmart and other retailers are coping with amid supply-chain
navigation to adjust the amount of cargo, and thus the draught of the ship, to the action, the port has in place a contingency plan designed to maximize our operational bottlenecks and fractured demand forecasting. Walmart has canceled billions of
current water levels on the respective route.” Ships still operating are restricted to
activity. The level of service we will be able to offer is subject to staff attendance on dollars of orders and sold much of its excess summer stocks, and officials believe
carrying 25 to 33 percent of their maximum load, Krekel said. That is to ensure they each shift. We apologize for any inconvenience potential Unite-led action will cause.” the inventory glut has now peaked. The effort is coming at a cost. The big
can pass through Kaub, about 50 miles west of Frankfurt, the shallowest section of For the most part, carriers appear ready to wait out the strike adjusting scheduled to discounting to get goods off the shelves has cut into margins, but Walmart is
the middle Rhine where the fairway depth was under five feet Tuesday. Dutch either arrive, if possible, this week at Felixstowe. Otherwise, they report that they will betting that leaner inventories will set the company up for a stronger close to the
barge operator Dubbelman Container Transport confirmed its barges were make calls if labor is available or otherwise wait for the end of the strike. It is year.
operating between ports, including Rotterdam and Zeebrugge, and its terminal at uncertain how long the backlog could last and how many import and export Home Depot’s second-quarter sales rose 6.5% as the retailer’s higher prices more
Weil am Rhein on the German-Swiss border near Basel. containers will be left waiting. With Felixstowe handling more than four million than offset another drop in transactions. (WSJ) Retailers and packaged-goods
containers a year, it would typically be averaging between 75,000 and 100,000 suppliers are increasingly clashing over how much to pass along higher costs to
“It is indeed true that we are currently dealing with extremely low water levels on containers a week. In March 2022, the port set a new record handling nearly 28,000 consumers. (CNBC)
the Rhine. Nevertheless, we have not yet ceased our Upper Rhine services at the TEU on a single vessel call. Risk management consultants Russell Group is warning that
moment,” Petric Dubbelman, the firm’s CEO, told JOC.com Tuesday. “Our vessels many leading businesses are concerned about the impact the strike will have on
are specially built for the Upper Rhine area, so the TEU capacity, tonnage/weight- already squeezed supply chains, with trade disruptions estimated in the region of
capacity, and draught of our fleet ensure a high degree of reliability of our $800 million. Does further analysis show that clothing ($82.8 million) and electronic
services,” he added. “We are therefore not dependent on any alternatives by rail or components ($32.3 million) will be the commodities that would be impacted by the
truck.” German intermodal operator Contargo, one of the Rhine’s largest barge strike.? The analysis was based on previous trade flows at Felixstowe during August.
operators, said it was largely suspending services over the weekend, citing safety “The disruption at Felixstowe spells more uncertainty for businesses, consumers, and
concerns due to low water. governments alike. Ports across the globe are facing congestion due to a large backlog
caused by the pandemic. These strikes could increase the backlog and in doing so,
But Contargo spokesperson Nadine Gross said services have not completely create even more delays, and the effects of this will only be registered in the coming
stopped. “A few push-barge combinations can still pass Kaub at these water levels,” weeks and months,” said Suki Basi, Russell Group founder and Managing Director.
she told JOC.com Tuesday. “As long as this is possible, Contargo tries to run the He added that it is taking significantly more time for logistics and risk management
most important containers in close coordination with the customers.” Carriers, experts to plan their strategies, which means they have had to throw extra resources
including Hamburg Sud, have switched containerized shipments to truck and rail, to address shipping issues that previously were not a problem.? Russell also forecasts
although a shortage of capacity is putting additional strain on those modes of that the strike at Felixstowe will have ripple impacts not only in Europe but across the
transport and adding to delays. “We are faced with a severe lack of truck drivers in globe. He notes that Felixstowe feeds UK exports to European ports including
the German hinterland due to the Russian war with Ukraine,” Hamburg Sud Rotterdam ($108 million) and Hamburg ($138 million).? Due to the disruptions at
spokesperson Rainer Horn told JOC.com. “Many drivers came from Ukraine but are Felixstowe, Basi forecasts that trade will be diverted not only to smaller ports in the
now back home.” Source: Joc UK but also to other international ports. He points to including Wilhelmshaven,
Germany, which at $1 billion in trade flow, is already significantly busier than Source: WSJ
Felixstowe. On a positive note, Germany has a truce with its unions
USA Advisory: LCL Export & Import
Service Delays
To keep you better informed of the current operational situation occurring in the U.S., we would like to provide you with the following updates.
Vessels continue to be pushed further off the proforma schedule causing blank sailings, and the continuous increase of import volume within the past two years has affected
operations in almost all areas of the country, creating delays. The current events in Ukraine are impacting vessel routing, schedules, ports, and rails, especially in Eastern Europe,
aggravating delays and congestion. COVID-19 sequels, labor shortage, and strong demand still impact the global supply chain. Lead times remain extended. With all of the recently
mentioned events, there is a high number of container vessels currently congested at different ports around the world, affecting logistics services overall. Within the past few
weeks, port congestion has become worse on the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, especially in Savannah and Houston. Container availability in the USA is tight in the areas of the
South Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast. Limited trucking and equipment availability are among the main challenges across the supply chain. Labor shortages may worsen since cruise
ship season has been reactivated, especially for the Pacific Northwest area.
Terminals Updates:
Due to increased volume and labor shortage, most terminals are experiencing congestion issues, including Los Angeles/Long Beach, Savannah, Charleston, Miami, Houston, and
Seattle. Each month, high cargo volumes continue to enter the U.S., with most North American ports facing berthing congestion. Some carriers are omitting ports and altering
schedules for services into US East Coast due to high congestion and delays.
U.S. East Coast:
New York/New Jersey: Vessel waiting time is up to 3 days due to high import volume and severe port congestion. Yard utilization is about 74%. Also, the rising movement of empty
containers has contributed to slowing down operations; about 120 thousand empty boxes are clogging the yard, a figure that is double the usual number. Import dwell time at the
APM terminal is 4.5 days. NJ/NY ports have 12 vessels on queue. Savannah: Vessel waiting time is up to 17 days due to high import volume and port congestion. The terminal
capacity is at 75% utilization. Miami/Port Everglades: Vessel waiting time is up to 2 days due to high import volume. Overseas port congestion is affecting service from Port
Everglades to East Coast South America, which has subsequently resulted in delays in operations and vessels being removed from schedules
U.S. West Coast:
Los Angeles: Vessel waiting time is up to 13 days due to yard congestion, high import dwell, and labor shortages. Long Beach: Vessel waiting time is up to 4 days due to high import
dwell and labor shortage. Limited appointments for empty return containers in the Los Angeles / Long Beach area. Seattle: Vessel waiting time is up to 2 days due to high import
volume and labor shortages. Vessels are arriving late due to delays at previous ports and routings. Oakland: Vessel waiting time is up to 15 days due to high import volume and
labor shortages. 90% of yard capacity is being used. Ships looking to berth in Oakland will now wait offshore, which will delay operations. The backlog is caused mainly due to a
massive number of empty containers in terminals waiting to be returned to Asia. Terminals within the port are heavily congested. Containers stacked high are the result of lack of
availability for timely pick-ups.
U.S. Gulf Coast: Houston: Waiting time is up to 18 days due to high import volume, labor shortage, and port congestion Rail Terminal Updates: Increased terminal dwell due to surge of import volume and labor shortage is the main challenges affecting rail services. Limited rail equipment remains a challenge in Los Angeles. BNSF & UP/LAX/LGB: There is severe congestion. Limited gate capacity, restrictions, rail car shortages, and limited reservations continue, causing increased delays on import rail units. There is limited allocation currently. In Los Angeles, containers wait an average of almost 16 days before being picked up. Chicago Rail Ramp: The rail facilities in Chicago are experiencing severe congestion due to dwelling containers and chassis shortages. There are gate restrictions and lane suspensions, causing extended delays in pick-ups and deliveries. The rails continue to monitor in-gates with allocation or reservations. CSX Bedford Park: Limiting reservations for in-gate to rail. NY/NJ: Chassis shortage includes rail ramps due to the high increase in import volume. Philadelphia: Severe chassis shortages in the Philadelphia area. Extended delays in pick-ups, deliveries, and drayage. Charleston: Lack of chassis causing extended delays in pick-ups, deliveries, and drayage over to rail facilities. Chassis pool utilization is over 95%. Savannah: Continued congestion and delays at the local ramps. Shortage of chassis and equipment continues to affect operations. Jacksonville and Miami: The shortage of equipment in Florida has carriers struggling to keep the service due to a slower turnover of import containers coming into the area. Most loads have been delayed an average of one to two weeks. Equipment shortages are resulting in pick-up delays. Seattle: Congestion due to increased dwell for Import rail cargo. Chassis pool utilization is over 80%. Houston/Dallas: There is a severe chassis shortage and ongoing congestion in the area. Finding truckers has become a challenge as they are booked for 2-3 weeks in advance. Rail yard capacity is 49% used. Chassis issues are challenging in all regions in the U.S. This is due to the division of the intermodal system and the lack of additional capacity at different levels of the supply chain. Equipment Availability: Shortage of container equipment for Hazardous cargo in Houston is an additional issue that affects operations on the Gulf Coast, especially for freight moving to Los Angeles. For intermodal freight, limited capacity in certain areas of the country due to high import volume and drivers’ shortages. There are continuous chassis shortages in Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Columbus, Cleveland, Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta, Nashville, and Louisville. Equipment availability remains an issue at Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Memphis, Nashville, Omaha, St. Louis, South Florida, and Seattle. Trucking capacity is reduced in most areas in the USA, resulting in additional delays in picking and delivering cargo. Source: Shipco
Container Dwell Fee Put On Hold Through August 26
Pedro Bay Ports Continue to Monitor Cargo Flow
July 29, 2022 — The San Pedro Bay ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will postpone consideration of the “Container Dwell Fee” for four weeks, until Aug.
26.
Since the program was announced on Oct. 25, the two ports have seen a combined decline of 26% in aging cargo on the docks.
The executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after monitoring data over the next month. Fee implementation has been postponed by
both ports since the start of the program. The Long Beach and Los Angeles Boards of Harbor Commissioners have both extended the fee program through Oct.
26.
Under the temporary policy, ocean carriers can be charged for each import container dwelling nine days or more at the terminal. Currently, no date has been
set to start the count with respect to container dwell time.
The ports plan to charge ocean carriers $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day until the container leaves the terminal.
Source: Freightwaves
Any fees collected from dwelling cargo will be reinvested for programs designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity and address congestion
impacts.
The policy was developed in coordination with the Biden-Harris Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, U.S. Department of Transportation and multiple supply
chain stakeholders.
Source: Port of Los Angeles
China Heat Wave: China's Sichuan province has ordered all factories to shut down for six days to ease a power shortage in the
China Faces Fiercest Heat region scorching heat wave sweeps across the country.
Wave In 6 Decades, Forcing Hong Kong: China's worst heatwave in 60 years is forcing factories to close with temperatures crossing 40 degrees Celsius (104
degrees Fahrenheit) in dozens of cities. China's Sichuan province has ordered all factories to shut down for six days to ease a
power shortage in the region as a scorching heat wave sweeps across the country.
Factories To Close Sichuan is a key manufacturing location for the semiconductor and solar panel industries and the power rationing will hit factories
belonging to some of the world's biggest electronics companies, including Apple (AAPL) supplier Foxconn and Intel (INTC),
reported CNN. The province is also China's lithium mining hub -- a key component of electric car batteries -- and the shutdown
may push up the cost of the raw material, analysts said. The extreme heat has caused a spike in demand for air conditioning in
offices and homes, putting pressure on the power grid. The drought has also depleted river water levels, reducing the amount of
electricity produced at hydropower plants.
Apart from Sichuan, other major Chinese provinces -- including Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang -- have also urged business and
households to conserve power as the heat wave has depleted electric supplies.In some regions, offices have been ordered to
increase their AC temperature to above 26 degrees Celsius or shut down lift services for the first three floors, so as to conserve
electricity. Sichuan, one of China's largest provinces with 84 million people, told 19 out of 21 cities in the region to suspend
production at all factories from Monday to Saturday, according to an "urgent notice" issued on Sunday by the provincial
government and the state grid, reported CNN. The decision was made to ensure that enough power is available for residential
use, the notice said.
The southwestern province -- which is also a key hydropower hub in China -- has been gripped by extreme heat and drought since
July. Since August 7, the heat wave in the province has intensified to "the most extreme level in six decades," and average rainfall
has dropped by 51 per cent from same period in previous years, according to an article posted on the government's website on
Tuesday. The province's top officials warned Monday that Sichuan is currently facing the "most severe and extreme moment" in
power supply, according to government-run Sichuan Daily. Luzhou, a city in Sichuan, announced last week that it would shut off
the city's street lights during the night to conserve power and alleviate the pressure on the electricity grid.
The Yangtze River in Jiujiang this month. With scant rainfall, the river has Sichuan is rich in mineral resources like lithium and polysilicon -- key raw materials in the solar photovoltaic and electronics
receded to a record low. industry. Many international semiconductor companies have plants in Sichuan, including Texas Instruments (TXN), Intel, Onsemi,
and Foxconn. Chinese lithium battery giant CATL, which supplies batteries to Tesla (TSLA), also has a factory in the region. Shutting
down factories for the week could tighten the supply of polysilicon and lithium and push prices higher, Daiwa Capital analysts said
in a note to clients.
Several Chinese companies have warned their production could be affected by the Sichuan power cut, including Sichuan Haowu
Electromechanical, an auto part manufacturer, and Sichuan Lutianhua, which produces fertilizers and chemical products, reported
CNN. The extreme heat in China has also resulted in crop failures in many parts of the country, adding to inflationary pressures
last month.
"Affected by the continuous high temperature in many places, the price of fresh vegetables rose by 12.9 per cent year-on-year,
which was significantly higher than the same period in previous years," Fu Linghui, a spokesperson for the National Bureau of
Statistics, said at a Monday press conference in Beijing. He pointed out that the extreme heat has caused droughts in some
agricultural areas in the south. In the north, rainfall and flooding also resulted in some crop failures, reported CNN.
Source: ndtv
Proposed Southern California Rail-Served Inland Port Gaining Traction
The developer of what would be the first rail-served inland port in Southern California has received the endorsement of the Kern County Board
of Supervisors for a project to develop distribution facilities that would receive thousands of import containers each week from the ports of
Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Located 90 miles from Los Angeles-Long Beach, the proposed Mojave Inland Port would be served by Union Pacific Railroad (UP), whose line
runs through the property, and possibly also by BNSF Railroad, which has joint operating rights along the corridor, said Richard Kellogg,
chairman of real-estate holding company and developer Pioneer Partners. Pioneer Partners, which owns the 400-acre site, will build the
distribution facilities and market the three-hour train shuttle to big-box retailers as an alternative to truck-served warehouses in the congested
Inland Empire region.
“We will offer much swifter delivery [of containerized imports] at a much lower cost,” Kellogg told JOC.com over the weekend.
The county’s endorsement of the project last week will allow Pioneer Partners to move forward with the project. “With site plans which are
now zoned and approved, Pioneer Partners will work with Kern County officials to secure building permits as part of the next phase of the
development process,” the company said in a press release.
Port officials say the inland port would reduce container dwell times and eliminate hundreds of truck trips each day at their terminals because
inbound containers discharged from vessels will be loaded directly to trains at on-dock rail yards. All 12 container terminals in the port
complex have on-dock rail yards. "This project will help us achieve our long-term goal of establishing a ‘push system’ for the port,” said Noel
Hacegaba, deputy executive director and COO at the Port of Long Beach. Unlike the traditional terminal operation in which truckers line up at
the gates to pick up specific containers destined for multiple locations in the region, each train will be loaded on the dock with 200 or more
containers that will be “pushed” to a single location, Hacegaba explained.
Past Resistance to Inland Port Concept
In recent years, several inland ports have begun operations near East Coast ports, especially in the Southeast, where railroads find it profitable to shuttle marine containers short distances in high-density
corridors. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, UP, and BNSF for years have studied the concept of a rail shuttle to the Inland Empire. Under that concept, the containers would then have to be
trucked from the inland rail hub to dozens of warehouses scattered throughout the region, and this has been a deterrent to investors as well as the railroads. Kellogg said the Mojave Inland Port is based on
a different business model. Pioneer Properties owns the property and the warehouses will be on-site, eliminating the need for an additional drayage move.
All participants in the inland port will deal with a single entity that is in charge of the entire operation, and this should allay railroad and shipper concerns about having to deal with multiple jurisdictions.
Pioneer two months ago began engineering work for the basic infrastructure, such as the construction of rail spurs and paving of the property, which should take about 60 more days, according to Kellogg.
Pioneer aims to begin construction on the underlying infrastructure by the first quarter of 2023. Once Pioneer secures the necessary permits to build warehouses and related structures, it will begin
actively marketing the site to retailers and distribution companies. UP on Monday told JOC.com it is in discussion with project proponents and “looks forward to learning more about customer demand.”
BNSF declined to comment as to whether it would operate trains on the corridor until it learns more about the project. Hacegaba believes there will be more of a sense of urgency by the various supply
chain partners in this rail-served inland port than there has been in the past. “The difference is we’re in the middle of a supply chain crisis. There’s a need to move forward,” he said.
Source: Joc
US Warehousing Demand Shifting Inland Expanding inventories are creating more heat in the speculative market for new inland distribution facilities, pushing up rents, according to developer JLL. Warehousing and distribution demand is surging across the US, most notably in inland markets fed by US ports, industrial developer Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) said Tuesday. The surge of imports that led to higher inventories in the second quarter is fueling demand for logistics and distribution space in Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Phoenix, and in eastern and central Pennsylvania, JLL said. Those were the markets with the highest year-to-date net rates of absorption for new logistics and distribution space, according to JLL’s second-quarter industrial outlook. Many of the same markets, with the addition of Atlanta and California’s Inland Empire, also had the highest rate of new construction in the first half of the year. And that construction rate isn’t flagging despite a slower moving economy, JLL said. “While a growing pipeline and overbuilding may spark concern, the industrial market will benefit from the additional supply, especially as some markets see 1 percent vacancies,” JLL said. Port markets, including Savannah, California’s Inland Empire, Los Angeles, and New York-New Jersey, saw vacancies stay below 2 percent, pushing overflow demand and development to adjacent markets. “Much of the heat around tenant movement is attributed to the influx of inventories being delivered following the supply chain crisis earlier this year, as well as companies expanding inventories to avoid future supply chain shortages,” JLL said. Logistics and distribution projects led industrial leasing in the quarter, followed by third-party logistics. Together, they accounted for 28 percent of total demand. New Inland Routes The widespread demand and growth of inland distribution facilities reflect not just higher inventory levels but changing distribution patterns that are emerging in the COVID-19 era as importers and other shippers change the routes and lanes used to move goods to market. That activity is driving demand higher in locations that formerly were secondary markets but now are gaining importance. Markets such as Austin, Texas, and Jacksonville, Florida, are growing quickly, fed in part by the demand generated by the shift of containerized imports from Los Angeles and Long Beach to East and Gulf coast ports such as Houston and Savannah. In Houston, JLL said total vacancy dropped from 7.1 percent a year ago to 6.2 percent, while “3PLs and logistics and distribution have taken over as leading sectors.” Nashville, Tennessee, close to Memphis, is one of the markets that is getting hotter. “Nashville has arguably emerged as a leading speculative industrial market in the Southeastern region,” JLL said. “The central location, relative affordability, and growing workforce are all attractive qualities for both investors and tenants alike.” Nashville’s vacancy rate is 3.2 percent. Phoenix is benefiting from spillover demand off the West Coast, and high construction demand. “Rental growth has been in hyperdrive since the start of the pandemic, up roughly 14 percent from Q1 2020” in Arizona’s largest city, JLL said. “Despite consistent upward pressure from new deliveries, these gains have persisted well into 2022. Rents are poised to climb over the next several months.” Ongoing Expansion Chicago, however, remains the lynchpin of inland distribution, despite intermodal rail congestion and delays, and ongoing supply chain difficulties. “We expect Chicago to still witness strong logistics demand as O’Hare, Rockford, and Gary airports allow shippers to bypass crowded seaports and move product into the Midwest,” JLL said. The firm also reported more redevelopment projects in the broader Chicago area. Some expansion has been delayed by shortages of building components, the industrial developer said. In Chicago, “heightened speculative development due to deliver by year-end could push into 2023 due to the shortage of critical building components such as roofing materials, electrical switchgear, and dock equipment,” said JLL. Chicago’s vacancy rate dropped to 2.9 percent in the second quarter. Indianapolis, with a 3.2 percent vacancy rate, has a rate of absorption “typically reserved for large coastal markets,” JLL said, with 22 million square feet leased since July 2021. The data “illustrate[s] just how far Indianapolis has come as a major destination for industrial occupiers in a few short years,” it said, adding the market has 26 million square feet of space set for delivery in the next 12 months. Atlanta is seeing so much construction that overbuilding is a concern, JLL said. Atlanta is hitting a historic volume of industrial space under construction, with more than 12 million square feet breaking ground each quarter this year, and a large percentage of deliveries pushed back due to labor and material constraints. “The market can accommodate and will benefit from this influx of supply,” JLL said. With the nationwide average vacancy rate for warehousing and distribution facilities at 3.7 percent in the last quarter and the average rent above $8 per square foot, JLL doesn’t see a slowdown in demand for industrial and distribution real estate, despite a slower-moving US economy. “Persistent demand in the market continues to enable construction activity and the pipeline to climb to new levels,” it said. Source: Joc
Port Projects Pull in Nearly $57M in Infrastructure Grants
RAISE program federal funding for all projects totals more than $2B
Increasing intermodal rail capacity at select ports and developing inland ports are among the goals of projects receiving millions in
federal grant money. The funding came from the RAISE grant program, which stands for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with
Sustainability and Equity. The program, administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation, awarded more than $2.2 billion to
projects nationwide to “modernize roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, and intermodal transportation and make our transportation
systems safer, more accessible, more affordable and more sustainable,” according to a Friday news release.
Among the grants with a railroad or port component were:
$25 million for the Victory Project in Nevada.
Funding will be used to complete the planning, environmental studies, engineering design, and construction of a stretch of the Nevada
Pacific Parkway connecting I-80 and Highway 50. The funding will cover the roadway and bridge component, which will include a new
switch off the Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) to facilitate the creation of a rail switching yard. This project will create an inland port with
capacity for rail switching as well as access to both UP and BNSF (NYSE: BRK.B). “The project will create a state-of-the-art, dedicated and
safe area for loading and discharging containers on and off the rail at the port to reduce vehicle miles traveled and support efficient
transportation design,” DOT said. “The project will divert nearly 250,000 container boxes from trucks to rail over the next decade. This
will speed up the movement of goods to and from the port and benefit the local and regional populations by creating new jobs.”
$16 million for cargo mobility optimization and intermodal rail capacity expansion at Port Miami.
The project, which will be spearheaded by Miami-Dade County, includes the construction of 3,200-foot-long rail tracks and the acquisition of three new electric rubber-tired cranes.
$13.6 million for multimodal laydown and transportation infrastructure improvements at the Port of Port Arthur in Texas.
The Port Arthur Navigation District is seeking to convert an abandoned rail yard into modern cargo storage and staging area. DOT said the area would reduce truck idling and emissions and improve freight
mobility and multimodal transfer capabilities.
$1.79 million for a Lincoln County rural planning project in Wyoming.
Lincoln County will develop a plan to improve several aspects of transportation in Wyoming, including upgrading the freight rail system, providing electric vehicle charging stations, and improving public transit,
DOT said. This will include finding areas “ripe for freight access,” as well as determining optimum locations for charging and/or fueling stations.
$445,000 for the development of a multimodal logistics center in Utah.
The Utah Inland Port Authority will use the funding for a market assessment and business case analysis for a multimodal logistics center and related infrastructure needs in southern Utah. The project is
designed to reduce truck transport and expand the capabilities of freight rail movement as well as improve air quality from the modal shift.
The full list of awardees plus project descriptions can be found here. According to RAISE program guidelines, 50% of funding must be designated for projects in rural areas and 50% must be for projects in urban
areas. The RAISE grant program was formerly known as BUILD grants and TIGER grants in past iterations under previous White House administrations. Source: Freightwaves
Volumes en Route to Savannah Signal September Slowdown: GPA The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) expects import volumes to slow, and possibly even decline on a year-over-year basis, as soon as mid- September as the number of containers en route to Savannah has fallen from its peak earlier this summer. Containerized imports through Savannah rose 6.5 percent year over year in the first seven months of 2022, including a 14 percent spike in July, according to PIERS, a sister product of JOC.com within IHS Markit, part of S&P Global. But the tide is changing, according to forwarding forecasts. The Global Port Tracker Report, published monthly by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, forecast last week that imports will decline 1.5 percent year over year in the second half of 2022 and decelerate further in 2023. Griff Lynch, CEO of the GPA, told JOC.com the number of containers “on the water” destined for Savannah peaked between 265,000 and 270,000 containers in July but has fallen below 250,000 and could slide further. Given the time to travel to Savannah, however, the decline in volume on the water will likely show up in September or October volume data, rather than August. The revised forecast from GPA comes as some big-box retailers — most notably Walmart and Target — have publicly acknowledged having too much inventory in stock. Some suppliers have told JOC.com that they’ve cut back on factory orders until their big-box retailer partners provide more clarity on inventory. “All these things will manifest themselves in mid-to-late September, and moving into October, we’re going to see activity simmer down,” Lynch said Aug. 8. “August will be strong — we won’t see a decline in August — and September should be OK. We’ll see about October.” And even if imports begin to decline on a year-over-year basis, volumes will remain well above pre-pandemic levels, Lynch said. “We’re not saying there’s a cliff,” he explained. “But certainly, there is an easing of pressure that’s on the horizon.” To revert to pre-pandemic levels, laden imports into Savannah would need to plunge 25 percent year over year in the fourth quarter, according to data from PIERS. “It’s hard to believe that volume will be down more than 20 percent,” the kind of decline seen only in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lynch said. “We’ve gained share from West Coast ports; transloading has exploded in Savannah and in the Southeast; we’ve doubled the warehouse space in Savannah versus 2016, so I don't see all that volume just dissipating and vanishing rapidly.” When there were more than 30 vessels at anchor outside Savannah last fall, there was a peak of 215,000 containers on the water en route to the port. Lynch said if the on-the-water volume falls to 215,000 again, the port will be able to clear the current queue of anchored vessels because terminal capacity has increased 25 percent compared with a year ago. As of Monday, there were 32 vessels outside Savannah awaiting a berth, down from a peak of 40 ships in July, according to AISLive, a sister product of JOC.com within IHS Markit, part of S&P Global. “We did 70,000 lifts in a recent week, which was not possible six months ago, and that is a record pace that equates to about 6.4 million TEU if it were annualized,” Lynch said. “We have the capacity to handle a lot more cargo than we did a year ago.” In addition, GPA is also tapping six pop-up sites across three states that opened last November and December for additional storage. Source: Joc
Plan to End Railroad Contract Dispute Calls for 24% Raises OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The special board appointed by President Joe Biden to intervene in stalled railroad contract talks suggested Tuesday that 115,000 rail workers should get 24% raises and thousands of dollars in bonuses as part of a new agreement to avert a strike. Railroads and unions will use those recommendations as the basis for a new round of negotiations over the next month. It remains to be seen, however, whether railroads will agree to the higher wages or find ways to address union concerns about working conditions. If the two sides can't agree on a new deal by mid-September, federal law would allow a strike or lockout. But Congress is likely to intervene before then to keep the supply chain moving. A railroad strike could devastate businesses that rely on Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX, and other major freight railroads to deliver raw materials and ship their products. In past national rail labor disputes, lawmakers have voted to impose terms on the railroads before workers could strike. A White House official said Biden is optimistic the report will provide a good framework for successful negotiations because avoiding a rail shutdown is in the nation's interests. Source: msn
RoadOne Confirms August Opening of Norfolk Transload Facility RoadOne IntermodaLogistics Tuesday confirmed it will open a 340,000-square-foot distribution center in Norfolk, Virginia, in August, the latest in a growing number of drayage and logistics providers building out their transload services outside the Port of Virginia. The new facility will be less than six miles from the port. It will have 80 dock doors, and most of the cargo will be transloaded into 53-foot dry-van or temperature-controlled trucks, the company said in a statement. Ken Kellaway, chief executive of RoadOne IntermodaLogistics, told JOC.com in January the third-party logistics provider would open the Norfolk distribution center, the fourth transload facility the company has announced in the last 14 months. The largest is a 1.1 million-square-foot building in Savannah; other sites in Houston and Jacksonville are slightly smaller than the Norfolk property. “The facility will be well-situated to address today’s growing need for e-commerce fulfillment that positions products closer to consumers,” Kendall Kellaway, senior vice president of commercial at RoadOne IntermodaLogistics, said in a statement Tuesday. “Our goal is to continue to provide our customers with timely, strategic resources including truck capacity, distribution, and logistics solutions, that help improve cargo velocity and the effective movement of goods to their customers.” The Port of Virginia is about 90 minutes from Interstate 95, a major truck route connecting the entire East Coast and critical to the two-day truck haul to Chicago and key warehousing hubs in Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Other well-known drayage providers such as Cal Cartage and Schneider also have transload facilities in Virginia. The Port of Savannah, less than 10 minutes from I-95, is also capitalizing on transloading demand. The Georgia Ports Authority will open a 325-dock door facility this summer in coordination with NFI Industries, the parent company of Cal Cartage. Most of that business will also go on trucks, according to the port authority. The Port of Charleston already has a transload facility next to the Wando Welch Terminal that companies such as Walmart regularly use to transfer cargo out of ocean containers. Volume, Capacity Driving Demand The Port of Virginia reported a 28 percent increase in laden imports in 2021, according to PIERS, a sister product of JOC.com within HIS Markit. Although January 2022 volumes were down due to two snowstorms that shut the port for four days, preliminary February data from PIERS suggests the port bounced back with double-digit percentage growth compared with February 2021. While one-third of cargo leaves the Port of Virginia on the rail, according to the Virginia Port Authority, shippers are lookingfor other ways to get international cargo into the US interior as ocean carriers are increasingly reluctant to have their containers leave port cities and shippers are leery of intermodal congestion. Pricing will also factor into how much is transloaded versus moved inland on the rail network. Transloading and hauling a container from Norfolk to Chicago will cost about $3,100 under a truckload contract and $3,800 on the spot trucking market when all costs are added together, according to DAT Solutions and the JOC Shipper Truckload Spot Rate Index. The intermodal option using an intact ocean box is also between $3,000 and $3,400 per container, according to a JOC analysis of ramp-to-ramp pricing data from freight rate benchmarking and analytics firm Xeneta. Source: Joc
The South Carolina Ports Authority has taken possession of more than 5,000 new chassis as it launches the initial
Charleston Rolls Out phase of its proprietary chassis pool, a move designed to help alleviate an equipment crunch that has contributed to
supply chain woes in the region over the past few years. About 5,450 chassis have been received out of a total order
of 12,900 units, according to SC Ports. Of the newly available chassis, 2,100 have already been leased out to cargo
First Phase of owners or trucking companies until next March. As of this week, containers moving through Charleston’s Hugh K.
Leatherman Terminal (HLT) are using a pool of 500 port authority-owned chassis.
Proprietary Chassis When the full order of almost 13,000 chassis is filled, which is expected in March, Charleston will officially exit the
South Atlantic Chassis Pool (SACP) and join the Port of Virginia as the only two ports in the US with port authority-
owned-and-operated chassis pools. That means it will be foregoing the pool model of using chassis supplied by third-
Pool party companies such as Consolidated Chassis Management, DCLI, Flexi-Van Leasing, the North American Chassis Pool
Cooperative, and TRAC Intermodal.
Barbara Melvin, CEO and president of SC Ports, told JOC.com Tuesday the full order of new chassis should be on hand
in March, although a slight delay is possible. “We should be on the pace I think with the shipping windows, but there’s
always a chance that can extend a couple of weeks here and there so we could push into April a little bit, but right
now it appears we're on pace,” she said.
Melvin said Charleston will phase in the new equipment at each of its three marine terminals through March, moving
to the North Charleston Terminal and then the Wando Welch Terminal hopefully by year’s end, before moving to
South Carolina’s inland ports in early 2023 — approximately 10 months later than originally planned. “With a multi-
terminal footprint, and our current partner [SACP], you kind of have to gradually transition from that pool into ours,
and the most logical way for us to do that was by location,” she said.
HLT was the ideal starting spot for the port authority-run pool because that’s where the chassis were delivered,
Melvin said. SC Ports ordered chassis from Dorsey Intermodal, which are being built by a vendor in Vietnam and
shipped on breakbulk vessels to Charleston. The port said it has not run into the same delays as other chassis
providers such as DCLI and TRAC which are using North American manufacturers.
Beneficial Move for Charleston, SACP
The chassis transition comes at an important time for southeast US ports. Charleston has long been frustrated with
the existing chassis pool because it believes too much equipment is old and unreliable. Its exit from SACP will not only
benefit Charleston but in turn help Savannah because the SACP equipment being returned by Charleston will be
redeployed to other locations, including Georgia.
Volume into Savannah has grown by double-digit percentages in each of the last two months, according to PIERS, a
sister product of JOC.com within S&P Global. While the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has expanded terminal capacity
25 percent year over year, officials there have said the chassis pool is stressed and supply is low.
As the port receives new chassis from Dorsey Intermodal, more will be put on the road for motor carriers. Chassis will
be available to rent for $24 a day, which Melvin said is a “reasonable cost.” That is slightly less than the daily rental
rate for the existing SACP pool, but higher than the at-cost model proposed for the scraped Southern States Chassis
Pool three years ago, which would have been between $15 and $20 per day. Melvin added that while the exit from the
SACP pool was initially tough on pool administrator CCM, the transition comes at a good time for both parties.
“I think that they are likely grateful that we have deployed the number of assets that we have because, for any chassis
that we can deploy, it alleviates some of the stress that they're feeling inside the pool,” she said. “What may have
started as, ‘I can’t believe you're leaving us’ is probably now transitioning to ‘Thank goodness we have more assets
available for the [rest of the] Southeast.’”
Source: Joc‘Dark Clouds’ Hang Over a Slowing Global Air Cargo Market, as
Demand Drops 9% in July Seasonally adjusted general air cargo market performance data for July 2022 shows a continued slowing down of volume, load factor,
capacity, and airfreight rates as the impact of economic and political uncertainties on world trade continues to hang over the industry.
Weekly market intelligence from industry analysts, CLIVE Data Services, now part of Xeneta, shows volumes dropped –by 9% in the first
month of the third quarter compared to July 2021. Demand was also down -9% versus the same month of 2019. Capacity growth slowed
to just +4% over the July 2021 level and was -11% to July 2019. This caused CLIVE’S ‘dynamic load factor’ measure to drop –from 8% pts
year-over-year to 58%, taking into consideration both the weight and volume perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available to
produce the most accurate indicator of airline performance.
Airfreight rates also continued to fall in July, relative to the June 2022 year-over-year analyses, CLIVE reports, although they remain at
+121% versus July 2019 and +11% compared to the same month a year ago. The slowdown in the global air cargo market since March
2022 is ongoing, said Niall van de Wouw, founder of CLIVE and now Chief Airfreight Officer at Xeneta, with no let-up in the multitude of
disruptions outside of the industry’s control. From uncertainties caused by the continuing war in Ukraine to the escalating ‘cost of living
crisis and its impact on household budgets and business performance. Latest reports in the Netherlands, for example, show
supermarket rates for groceries 20% higher on average, compared to 11 months ago, further impacting the discretionary spending of
consumers. Closer to home, airlines and airports continue to suffer severe operational challenges due to significant shortages of ground
staff.
“There are many dark clouds hanging over the air cargo industry given the state of the world right now. Volumes are subdued, and while
air cargo rates are still elevated, they are slowly but surely easing back towards pre-Covid levels. From a rate point of view, indicators
suggest the market has yet to bottom out. It’s clear that airlines are following the market very closely to ensure they are deploying their
assets in the best possible way because the market is moving quickly. We have already seen freighters moving away from transatlantic
routes. “The slow slides in rates, compared to 2019 and 2021, continue by a handful of percentages each month. In January, rates were
+156% compared to the same month in 2019. Now, this figure is 121% or a reduction of 35% pts on a global scale. On the Atlantic, the
decline in general airfreight rates we reported for the previous three months of 2022 continued in July. While this will be partly
seasonal, the slight increase in load factor across the Atlantic relative to June – from 58% to 61% - might be a result of carriers and
forwarders redirecting their freighter operations to other lanes, hence pushing up the load factor for the remaining flights on these
routes,” he said.
Source: AjotNote: This Data is Specific to CMA Only Source: TP Newsletter
Note: This Data is Specific to CMA Only Source: TP Newsletter
Note: This Data is Specific to CMA Only Source: TP Newsletter
Cargo Back Log in the Asian Region Week 33 • Green Boats- Cargo • Orange Boats- Fishing • Red Boats- Tanker
Chart of the Week – Week 33 This week: Houston and Tacoma made the big jumps in import container volume. Midwest rail volumes have slipped just a bit off the highs of the previous few weeks.
Port Of Los Angeles Weekly Volume Source: Port of Los Angeles
Port Of Long Beach Weekly Volume
TNI “Putting The Fun Back in Freight Forwarding”
Fun Fact
Did you know that the largest ship in the world that is used for logistics can carry and transport the
Eiffel tower with no problem?
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August 18, 2022, from https://www.wsj.com/news/logistics-reportYou can also read
