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Carriers omit Singapore calls amid growing delays as Asia port congestion spreads

Ocean carriers are facing growing wait times for berths at Singapore and omitting the port on intra-Asia and Asia-Africa services amid a deepening logjam at Southeast Asia’s leading container gateway caused by ongoing Red Sea vessel diversions.

Carriers and forwarders said the average berthing delay is three to five days, but HMM and Ocean Network Express (ONE) said they are experiencing more than that.

Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said the situation is the culmination of months of disruption as carriers curtail or blank services, discharging cargo in Singapore and other ports because vessel diversions around southern Africa mean they no longer call at Middle East or Red Sea ports.

As a result, Singapore has seen container volumes surge 8.8% to 13.4 million TEUs in the first four months of 2024 compared with last year, MPA said in a statement Thursday.

The agency said vessels are having to wait longer to berth for several reasons, including an increase in vessels arriving off-schedule, the bunching of vessel arrivals, and terminal congestion and longer dwell times as carriers discharge more containers as they forgo subsequent voyages to catch up on sailing schedules.

Terminal operator PSA Singapore is reactivating closed berths and container yards at its Keppel terminal to increase cargo handling capacity.

“The waiting time for ONE vessels has increased to an average of four days up to a maximum of eight and a half days,” an ONE spokesperson told the Journal of Commerce.

The situation is being exacerbated by high container yard utilization, so productivity is dropping and dwell times are increasing, the ONE spokesperson added.

HMM said it was facing average delays of more than four days. Despite the congestion, HMM said it continues to use Singapore as its main transshipment hub, but the carrier warned “if congestion at Singapore port keeps getting worse, we will consider rolling cargo or skipping Singapore to improve our services.”

Skipping Singapore calls

Carriers, including ONE and OOCL, are already skipping Singapore on regional services.

“Several vessels, especially those operating intra-Asia and West African services, are omitting Singapore and all Singapore [remain-on-board] cargo is being discharged at Port Klang [Malaysia],” the ONE spokesperson said.

But the extra volumes at Port Klang, which comprises the Westport and Northport terminals, is worsening congestion there, with Hapag-Lloyd reporting berth waiting times of 36 to 45 hours due to high yard utilization and vessel bunching.

Pointing out the impact of delays on intra-Asia and regional services, one senior executive at an intra-Asia carrier said a three-day delay at Singapore was the equivalent of a transit from Hong Kong to Singapore that included a call at Shenzhen’s western Shekou and Chiwan terminals.

“Intra-Asia carriers operate on tight fixed schedules,” the source said. “If there’s a three- to five-day delay at Singapore, intra-Asia carriers have no choice but to omit port calls, or discharge and roll cargo just to maintain some semblance of a schedule.”

Carriers said they are in close discussions with PSA over vessel arrivals to try to minimize delays at Singapore and the negative impact on vessel schedules. “[But] current berth capacity is insufficient to cater for our overall berth requirements, so delays continue to be expected,” the ONE spokesperson said.

Details please refer to JOC news.

Source:

Wallis, K. (2024, May 31). Carriers omit Singapore calls amid growing delays as Asia port congestion spreads. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/carriers-omit-singapore-calls-amid-growing-delays-asia-port-congestion-spreads_20240531.html

 

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Vessel congestion building outside Charleston, Savannah

Congestion is building outside the southeast US ports of Charleston and Savannah, with more than 20 vessels combined awaiting a berth due to an ongoing infrastructure project at Charleston as well as the lingering effects from the software malfunction the port experienced almost two weeks ago.

The Port of Charleston and South Carolina inland ports in Dillon and Greer were closed for nearly two days May 20-21 because of the software problem.

“The backlog we’re experiencing is in part from our temporary operational impacts from last week, but also due to ongoing work with the toe wall project at Wando Welch Terminal — a critical infrastructure project for our operations,” a spokesperson for the South Carolina Ports Authority told the Journal of Commerce Friday.

The spokesperson said the toe wall structure maintains a stable slope beneath the wharf and provides an edge for berth deepening, improvements that will allow the berths to maintain a depth of 54 feet.

The toe wall project will keep one of the three berths at Wando Welch out of commission until the fall, meaning the terminal will only be able to handle two vessels at a time until the work is completed. That could result in anchored vessels outside Charleston until then.

“We are working diligently to bring the Leatherman Terminal back online, which will provide additional capacity,” the spokesperson said. “We are offering a virtual vessel queue time in which we communicate with ocean carriers about our estimated berthing time and their ETA. This helps them avoid rushing to wait, enabling them to save fuel, time, and money.”

The Leatherman Terminal has been underutilized since it opened in 2021 after the International Longshoremen’s Association sued ocean carriers calling the terminal because non-union labor operated its cranes and other lift equipment. The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in February of a lower court decision upholding the union’s right to sue.

Meanwhile, some ocean carriers have decided to switch their rotations to stop in Savannah before Charleston, according to a source who asked not to be identified, causing congestion to build there, too. It’s essentially the reverse of what happened in 2022 when berth construction in Savannah caused vessels to anchor outside that harbor and resulted in ocean carriers switching some rotations to stop in Charleston first.

There have been no significant complaints about the congestion at either port from importers restocking on inventory, but it’s possible the delays will cause some consternation for exporters who will have to pay attention to the earliest receiving dates to bring cargo into the terminals.

Source:

Ashe, A. (2024, May 31). Vessel congestion building outside Charleston, Savannah. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/vessel-congestion-building-outside-charleston-savannah_20240531.html

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SC Ports resumes most operations, but recovery just beginning

It will take the South Carolina Ports Authority a week or more to restore normal cargo flow through its network following the software malfunction that forced the closure of truck gates at Charleston’s marine terminals and SC Ports’ two inland ports for most of two days, trucking companies that work the market said Tuesday.

SC Ports, in a statement late Tuesday afternoon, said cargo pickups and drop-offs had resumed at all marine terminals and Inland Port Greer. The statement did not mention Inland Port Dillon, but a spokesperson for the port authority said the facility remained closed.

Additionally, SC Ports said it would extend gate hours until 7 pm Tuesday at the Wando Welch and North Charleston marine terminals “to support our motor carriers and cargo owners.”

“We appreciate the support of our maritime community and the patience of partners as we work through the restart of operations,” the port authority said.

SC Ports has said the widespread software problem that surfaced on Sunday did “not appear to be a cybersecurity issue.” A spokesperson for the port said the software vendor confirmed that the root cause of the malfunction was a technical issue, not cyber related.

While operations have mostly resumed, truckers say working through the backlog of containers that weren’t moving for almost two days has only just begun.

“In general, we still anticipate backlogs for a week or two,” a source at one trucking company told the Journal of Commerce.

On an average day, about 6,000 to 8,000 truck transactions are handled at the Wando Welch and North Charleston marine terminals, according to the South Carolina Ports Authority. Wando is the primary container location in Charleston. Other operations inside the terminal returned to normal on Monday, including loading and unloading vessels and moving boxes within the yard.

Trucking companies are concerned about short-term equipment shortages due to the pileup of cargo requiring drays to customers. A second large trucking company with operations in Charleston warned that shippers might receive accessorial fees on invoices due to the congestion.

“Even after the backlogs subside, we anticipate per diem and chassis usage cost impacts and disputes created as a result,” a source at the company told the Journal of Commerce.

Aside from the landside concerns, there will also be downstream effects outside the harbor. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 13 container ships anchored outside Charleston, meaning the port will need to devote extra resources to clear the backlog of vessels.

Winding through unexpected fees

There are several types of accessorial fees that could become an issue in Charleston in the coming weeks, but a port official said the issues can be easily resolved.

First, there is the question of how ocean carriers and the port authority will treat the free time on containers discharged from vessels on Monday. Port officials will invoice ocean carriers for excessive use of the terminal grounds and ocean carriers will add their fees for not removing the container in a timely fashion in a demurrage invoice. The port told the Journal of Commerce that it will not count Monday or Tuesday toward its demurrage invoices.

Secondly, cargo owners may ask questions about detention penalties – i.e. penalties for not returning the empty container back within a pre-determined window. If a shipper was unable to return its empty container because the terminal was not accepting boxes, would the ocean carrier waive the fee charged on Monday since truck gates were unavailable? In TCW v. Evergreen, the Federal Maritime Commission ruled that a marine terminal must be open to incentivize the flow of containers through accessorial fees. The port did not comment on this issue since it’s a question for the ocean carriers.

The port also told the Journal of Commerce that it will not charge customers for chassis usage on Monday or Tuesday, and it would add an extra day for exporters to deposit their cargo if their window began prior to Monday.

Source:

Ashe, A. (2024b, May 21). SC ports resumes most operations, but recovery just beginning. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/sc-ports-resumes-most-operations-recovery-just-beginning_20240521.html

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Gates remain closed at Charleston, inland ports amid ongoing software issue

No cargo pickups or drop-offs were occurring throughout the South Carolina Ports Authority’s (SC Ports’) network Tuesday morning as SC Ports faced a second day dealing with a software issue that has disrupted its operations.

“SC Ports has made further progress on our gate issue, but it is not entirely resolved,” the port authority said in an advisory posted on its website at 10 am local time Tuesday. “We understand the impact that this issue is having on our partners in the industry.”

SC Ports planned to resume full operations at its marine terminals and inland ports at 5 am Tuesday after it was forced to close all terminal gates to truckers on Monday in Charleston and at inland ports Dillon and Greer because of the software malfunction. But with the issue not entirely resolved, the 5 am restart time was scuttled.

“SC Ports is working diligently to resume all operations as quickly as possible following a vendor software issue that impacted a server,” it said. “Work is progressing, and many systems have been restored.”

The port authority said Monday the issue did “not appear to be a cybersecurity issue.”

Few details are known about the extent of the software issue and whether it impacts only the truck gates or all operations inside the terminals such as ship-to-shore cranes, yard hostler vehicles and container stacks.

A spokesperson for SC Ports, in response to questions from the Journal of Commerce on Monday, said: “For security reasons, we are not going to detail our systems.”

A source with knowledge of the problem, however, called the software issue “temporary,” and added that “other operations are ongoing.”

“We were able to continue working vessels over the weekend and today and will continue to do so as able,” the source said.

Rail ramps affected

The closure affects the 6,000 to 8,000 truck transactions per day that the port authority handles, including the 500 to 650 containers outgated on trucks that are taken to terminals run by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). If the situation is not cleared up shortly, CSX and NS will have to develop a plan to prevent its terminals from being overrun with exports.

The closures of Inland Port Dillon and Inland Port Greer might have a cascade effect on Memphis business if SC Ports doesn’t reopen on Tuesday morning. On an average day, about 100 ocean containers travel between Charleston and Memphis in either direction.

SC Ports was also beginning to see a backlog of vessels, with eight container ships docked outside Charleston as of Monday afternoon.

Source:

Ashe, A. (2024, May 21). Gates remain closed at Charleston, inland ports amid ongoing software issue. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/gates-remain-closed-charleston-inland-ports-amid-ongoing-software-issue_20240521.html

 

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Vancouver works through rail dwell woes while warily eyeing labor talks

A possible strike later this month by conductors and engineers at Canada’s two major freight railroads could cripple operations at the Port of Vancouver while scuttling the railroads’ recent attempts to thin the inventory of long-dwelling rail containers at the port, the country’s largest.

The threat of rail strikes in Canada amid contract negotiations isn’t atypical and agreements are often struck in the final hours, thanks to federal prodding. But container lines, railroad executives and forwarders have been warning since early 2024 that this negotiation cycle carried a higher risk.

One former railroad executive who spoke to the Journal of Commerce put the likelihood of a rail strike at 50-50, adding that the industry won’t know for sure until the final hours before a May 22 deadline.

“Paying by the hour versus paying by the miles would be a game changer in Canadian rail operations,” the source, who did not want to be identified, said, referring to union resistance to the wage proposal put forth by the Class I railroads. “The union is not on board at this point, and this has become a strike issue.”

Notably, during a May 1 press conference announcing the authorization of a strike, the rail unions ducked questions on whether they would strike simultaneously at Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). If an agreement can’t be reached before the May 22 deadline, the unions could choose to target one of the railroads and focus its pressure via work stoppages.

Such a disruption would reverse the modest port performance improvement at Vancouver, where rail container dwell times are still five days or longer, on average, across the port’s four container terminals, according to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. Vanterm was the one exception, with rail dwell times on average under three days.

Excessive rail container dwells, which contribute to congestion at Vancouver’s marine terminals, have risen steadily this year, from 5.2 days in January to 6.7 days in February and 7.3 days in March, according to the port’s website.

The port has yet to release its April rail container dwell times, but railroads say dwell times have improved over the past month. On April 24, Canadian National Railway (CN) said during a first-quarter earnings call it had added eight more weekly trains serving Vancouver and Prince Rupert to handle what they expect will be sustained import growth at both British Columbia ports.

Carriers, forwarders and shippers are already making contingency plans to prepare for a possible strike, but they say their options are limited. Maersk Line on Thursday said in a customer advisory it is diverting some cargo to the Port of Prince Rupert and is “inducing Tacoma, WA, on four upcoming sailings on our TP1 service to care for US import/export rail cargo should a strike take place.”

Re-routing cargo to other gateways is probably the most viable option, but the challenge for shippers will be to get space on alternative services, said David Bennett, chief commercial officer at the forwarder Farrow. “The PNW (Pacific Northwest) is overbooked,” Bennett said.

Details please refer to JOC news.

Source:

Mongelluzzo, B. (2024, May 8). Vancouver works through rail dwell woes while warily eyeing labor talks. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/vancouver-works-through-rail-dwell-woes-while-warily-eyeing-labor-talks_20240508.html

 

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Ocean carriers target growing China-Mexico trade with new express services

Ocean carriers are targeting the burgeoning China-Mexico trade with the launch of new services next month that coincide with soaring container volumes and growing investment in Mexico by Chinese companies.

Cosco Shipping and OOCL, its Hong Kong-headquartered affiliate, will launch an express service between Asia and Mexico in early May with a 15-day transit from Qingdao to Ensenada, Baja California, and 20 days from Qingdao to Manzanillo.

While the trans-Pacific Latin Pacific 5 (TLP5) service starts in Busan, it will predominantly serve eastern and northern China with calls at Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao and Dalian and the west coast Mexican ports of Ensenada and Manzanillo. There will be westbound calls at Yokohama and Busan.

“TLP5 is a brand-new service jointly operated by OOCL and COSCO Shipping Lines that aims to cater to the increasing demand in Asia–Mexico trade and provide a competitive option to shippers,” Michael Xu, OOCL’s director of trades, told the Journal of Commerce.

The two carriers will deploy seven vessels with a nominal size of 6,000 TEU on the loop, which starts May 6 from Ningbo, Xu added. OOCL said its existing TLP1, TLP2 and TLP3 loops are unaffected by the new service.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), meanwhile, will launch a similar China-Mexico shuttle starting from Qingdao on May 15 that will call at Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas. The service, which is in addition to MSC’s existing Andes, Aztec, Inca and Santana loops, will be inaugurated by the 6,500-TEU MSC Apollo.

Volume, capacity boost

The launch of the new services comes amid surging volumes between China and Mexico and an investment boom by Chinese companies in Mexico as part of wider nearshoring efforts in Central and South America. Chinese investment is helping to fuel a boom in Mexico-US trade that led Mexico to overtake China last year as the biggest exporter to the US.

Details please refer to JOC news.

Source:

Wallis, K. (2024, April 30). Ocean carriers target growing China-mexico trade with new express services. Journal of Commerce. https://joc.com/article/ocean-carriers-target-growing-china-mexico-trade-new-express-services_20240430.html

 

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Baltimore readying for return of Asia volumes as recovery takes shape: port CEO

The Port of Baltimore is preparing to handle the return of cargo at the end of May as container lines begin accepting loads on Asian services for delivery to terminals that have been blocked since the March 26 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge following the crash of the container ship Dali.

Longshore labor is keeping rail gantry cranes and other motorized equipment humming and state aid is being distributed to port workers who are not working due to the sudden disappearance of container, roll-on/roll-off and bulk volumes, Jonathan Daniels, CEO of the Maryland Port Authority, said in a Tuesday interview.

Container lines, which normally operate six weekly services connecting to Baltimore, have told the port authority they have begun accepting bookings for shipments to the port, Daniels said. Maersk’s recently relaunched TP20 service from Asia, for example, will be one of the first services to return to Baltimore, he said.

Maersk’s decision to keep Baltimore as a US port of call, in addition to Newark and Houston, on the Panama Canal express service “shows a commitment that while there is a temporary blip, (carriers) do realize that this is, in fact, temporary and it’s not a long-term indication that the port has some type of structural issue,” Daniels said.

Container growth momentum, driven by distribution center expansion from customers Floor and Decor and Con-Air, remains — even if it can’t be tapped at the moment, said Daniels, who took over at the port authority less than two months before the 9,962-TEU Dali collided with the Key Bridge. Floor and Decor is doubling its distribution center at the Tradepoint Atlantic terminal to 2.8 million square feet, while Con-Air will open a 2.5 million-square foot facility later this month in Hagerstown, Pennsylvania.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Szakonyi, M. (2024, May 1). Baltimore readying for return of Asia volumes as recovery takes shape: Port CEO. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/baltimore-readying-return-asia-volumes-recovery-takes-shape-port-ceo_20240501.html

 

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Teamsters Canada vote overwhelmingly to authorize rail strike as soon as May 22

Unions representing conductors and engineers with Canada’s two major freight railroads said Wednesday they have authorized a strike as soon as May 22, after 98% of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) voted to walk off the job unless a new labor contract is hammered out.

Federal conciliators have tried since March 1 to negotiate a deal between Canadian Pacific-Kansas City(CPKC), Canadian National Railway (CN) and TCRC, without success. Talks broke down on a new collective bargaining agreement soon after talks began last fall.

During a press conference Wednesday, the Teamsters declined to answer whether the individual unions under the TCRC umbrella would strike at the railroads simultaneously.

A conciliation period ended May 1. Without a deal, the two sides begin a mandatory 21-day “cooling off” period before the TCRC can strike or the railroads lock out the workers. Voting took place from April 6 to May 1. The vote tally announced Wednesday was required for the TCRC to issue a 72-hour strike notice that could come as soon as May 19.

TCRC represents 6,000 conductors, engineers and yard workers with CN and 3,200 with CPKC. The union also represents about 80 rail traffic controllers with CPKC. In the US, rail traffic controllers are often referred to as dispatchers.

Canadian rail stoppages not uncommon

The core issues in dispute include salaries, work-life balance and rest periods.

Both CN and CPKC want to abolish the per-mile pay for conductors and engineers and replace it with an hourly wage. The railroads have said the new pay scale is “modernized” and will raise wages for employees, while the TCRC says more than half its workforce will earn less until the proposed changes in pay take effect.

CPKC said it has put two proposals on the table, one of which it says would increase pay and improve work-life balance with “scheduled, predictable days off” through a simplified system, and the other that would “maintain the status quo for work rules” for rest.

“I can tell you that the progressive hourly deal, in my assessment, addresses what our employees want and need,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel said on an Apr. 24 earnings call. “They want a better quality of life. They want higher wages, which certainly is understandable. And in turn, our ability to be able to provide that is found in the terms and conditions of that hourly agreement.”

Another issue of contention is the “Transport Canada Duty and Rest Period Rules” enacted last year.

The TCRC complains that the railroads want to use rules to replace all previous workplace provisions in prior collective bargaining agreements. The union argues the rules were meant to complement terms in prior agreements, not replace them, and to do so would jeopardize safety.

Patrick Whitehead, CN’s chief network operating officer, said during a first-quarter earnings call that any claim the railroad is not committed to safety is wrong.

“We successfully implemented the duty and rest period rules that were mandated in Canada in May of 2023 and have been in full compliance with these rules,” Whitehead said on the April 23 call. “What we are doing is working to simplify the complexity of the stacking effect we experienced beginning in 2023 of the additional paid sick and personal leave days under the Canada Labor code, the duty and rest period rules and the unavailable time provided by the legacy collective marketing agreement.”

Work stoppages are not uncommon in Canada. The TCRC walked off the job with Canadian Pacific in 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2022 and embarked on an eight-day strike with CN in 2019.

In theory, CPKC and CN could run limited operations during a strike because there are managers who have been trained or have worked as conductors, engineers, rail traffic controllers, trainmasters and yardmasters earlier in their careers.

Source:

Ashe, A. (2024, May 1). Teamsters Canada vote overwhelmingly to authorize rail strike as soon as May 22. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/teamsters-canada-vote-overwhelmingly-authorize-rail-strike-soon-may-22_20240501.html

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Bad weather causing delays, congestion at major Asian load ports

Bad weather and resulting congestion at ports in Asia are causing vessel delays of up to a week at key gateways in the region, carriers say.

Hapag-Lloyd said fog is the main problem at ports in China, including Shanghai and Ningbo, while torrential rain and poor visibility were issues in Malaysia and Singapore. An index measuring wait times in harbor, produced by Portcast, shows congestion in Ningbo began rising mid-April.

The adverse conditions meant vessels could not berth even as more ships arrived at anchorage, leading to vessel bunching that exacerbated port congestion. Yard congestion in Singapore also contributed to the delays there, Hapag-Lloyd said in an advisory Thursday.

The delays come on top of the extra 10- to 14-day transit carriers face due to diverting vessels around southern Africa to avoid the risk of attack in the Red Sea region.

One of the worst-affected facilities is the Shanghai East Container Terminal, where there are delays of up to seven days, Maersk said in an advisory this week. Other terminals in Shanghai are seeing delays of up to three days, while Ningbo and Qingdao in eastern and northern China are reporting similar delays, Maersk added.

Hapag-Lloyd said vessels are having to wait up to 80 hours to berth at Port Klang and 72 hours in Singapore.

Ocean Network Express (ONE) confirmed that some ships operating trans-Pacific and intra-Asia services are having sailing schedules disrupted by the bad weather and port congestion.

Highlighting the delays, ONE sailing schedules show the 10,000-TEU Seaspan Bellweather, operating the Asia-Latin America Express 3 service, was two days late at Ningbo. That lengthened to three days when the vessel berthed at Shanghai and then five days when the vessel arrived at the next call, Qingdao, this week. ONE attributed the delays to berth congestion at all three ports.

Source:

Walli, K. (2024, April 26). Bad weather causing delays, congestion at major Asian Load Ports. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/bad-weather-causing-delays-congestion-major-asian-load-ports_20240426.html

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Norfolk expands hours to handle cargo volumes shifted from Baltimore

The Port of Virginia is expanding its operating hours to handle the increased cargo volumes now bypassing the Port of Baltimore following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26.

The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) said the Virginia International Gateway (VIG) terminal and Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) will extend their gates during the week, with new hours being 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. Additionally, VIG will be open on Saturdays from 8 am to 5 pm.

VIG had not been open on any Saturdays this year after having sporadic Saturday hours from 2021 through 2023 to handle occasional spikes in import volumes. NIT will remain closed on Saturdays.

VPA did not put an end date on the expanded hours, only saying it will monitor the Baltimore cargo it handles to determine if truck drivers at some point are able to handle the Baltimore-related cargo during normal weekday hours.

The US Army Corps of Engineers last week said it is planning to reopen Baltimore’s port to vessel traffic on a limited basis by the end of April, with a full reopening hoped for by the end of May.

More than 400 Baltimore-area truck drivers have registered to temporarily operate at the Port of Virginia, according to the VPA. The Maryland drivers will deliver cargo to destinations in Maryland and Pennsylvania normally routed through Baltimore.

“The Maryland-based motor carriers that are coming here to pick up Baltimore-bound cargo have a full day of driving ahead of them and we want this group of drivers to have a safe, efficient, and quick transaction here so they can get back on the road and headed home,” a VPA spokesperson said. “Extending our operating hours is one way of taking an additional step to help out a neighbor.”

The US Department of Transportation offered some relief on April 4, granting an exemption permitting drivers to work an additional two hours of drive time beyond the federal limits if the cargo is connected to the Port of Baltimore closure. Drivers, however, would still not be allowed to exceed 14 hours on roadways.

Norfolk Southern Railway could also serve as a relief valve for diverted cargo because it runs trains to the Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal, Va. For certain destinations in western Maryland and Pennsylvania, a rail option to Front Royal would reduce the workload on a truck driver.

VPA said there is “a lot of interest in Virginia Inland Port and we expect some additional volume there,” although it’s unclear how may containers will be railed to Front Royal.

Some differences for drivers

Maryland drivers need to be aware of two key differences between the Port of Baltimore and the Port of Virginia.

There is a mandatory appointment system until 4:00 p.m. to pick up or drop off cargo at Norfolk, something Maryland drivers might not be accustomed to because no such requirement exists in Baltimore.

The Port of Virginia also has its own chassis pool, which means if a driver uses the port authority equipment, the individual will have to return the unit back to Norfolk. The driver cannot return a Port of Virginia-branded chassis to Baltimore. However, drivers are permitted to use outside chassis at the Port of Virginia, so they could bring one from Baltimore and use it in Norfolk.

Source:

Ashe, A. (2024, April 10). Norfolk expands hours to handle cargo volumes shifted from Baltimore. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/norfolk-expands-hours-handle-cargo-volumes-shifted-baltimore_20240410.html