Commerce Express Weekly Road Map:
May 7th, 2024
Keeping you informed on the latest news/insights in our industry.
Domestic Market Updates –
- Diesel update: As of May 6th, the average price of diesel was $3.894 a gallon. Seeing a 5.3 cent decrease from last week – per the EIA.
- Labor: Negotiations between Canadian rail unions and their employers have yet to reach an agreement on a new contract. The earliest a strike could occur is May 22nd. Take a closer look at these negotiations here.
- New Service: Union Pacific launches new service from Southern California to Illinois, in hopes to provide some shippers with lower drayage costs.
- Baltimore Bridge Incident: U.S. Coast Guard plans to open the Port of Baltimore’s 45-foot ship channel on May 10th. A deeper, 50-foot, channel is set to reopen later in May.
- Wait times: trucker wait times at Norfolk Southern’s Chicago terminal are making progress after dealing with some congestion earlier this year.
- Labor: More participants, American Train Dispatchers Association and BNSF Railway, are set to join US DOT and FRA confidential close call reporting system.
- Equipment: Chassis production is being scaled back from some intermodal chassis manufacturers due to weak demand.
Trailer Parking Space Availability Could Be Impacted From
LA Proposed Zoning Project
Finding the right facilities to store shipping containers and to park trucks is a challenge industry stakeholders continue to face in the U.S., but especially in the Los Angeles area.
Carriers that look to store any unit – ie. empty chassis or containers – usually look for parking off the port in order to avoid costly daily rate fees, which tends to drive up demand for these facilities.
Certain real estate developers are trying a new approach by reusing former business locations and turning them into trailer storage facilities.
Recent Legislation in Mississippi Seeks to Address
Predatory Towing Practices
On April 19th, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed into law that will help regulate forced towing and charges for motor vehicles.
Predatory towing is when certain tow truck operators prey on vehicles without reasonable authority to do so. This can include someone being overcharged, their vehicle illegally seized, withholding the release of the vehicle or cargo, etc. Read more about predatory towing, here.
The legislation also creates an advisory board, establishes a dispute resolution process, requires tow warning signage and bans the use of immobilization devices being placed on heavy trucks except when requested by law enforcement, Transport Topics reports.
Have questions? Reach out to our team today.
Commerce Blog
Unionized rail workers across Canada’s two Class I railroads have voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike as soon as May 22.
98 percent of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference’s (TCRC) rank-and-file members ruled in favor of picketing if new collective bargaining agreements are not reached between their union and their railway employers Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC).
Since Mar. 1, federal mediators have been tapped to help broker a labor deal for the two sides but have been unsuccessful. With no agreement in place after a May 1 “conciliation period” deadline, a mandatory 21-day “cooling off” period is underway, forbidding any strike action from workers or lock outs by the railroads. However, this cease-fire will expire on May 22, thus allowing the first chance for either side to take labor-related actions.
Rail Container Backlogs in Southern California
Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles are dealing with twice their normal inventory of rail containers and draying some of their boxes to a near-dock storage yard, in an effort to avoid the backlog creating issues with their cargo handling operations.
“The eastbound dwell has built up to the point that we have to use near-dock storage space – at an extra expense to us,” Yusen’s President and CEO Alan McCorkle told the JOC.
According to Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, rail container dwell times have steadily increases on the LA-LB terminals this year; 4.2 days in January; 6.26 days in February and 7.02 days in March.
Class I Railroads BNSF and Union Pacific say they are not noticing higher dwell times and they are ready to handle any increase in volume. According to reports, they plan to increase railcar supplies in Southern California in preparation for peak shipping season on the Eastbound Trans-Pacific lane, which it begins in August.
Total Weekly Rail Traffic for the Week Ending April 27th, 2024
- In the U.S. total weekly rail traffic was 476,302 carloads and intermodal units. Seeing a 0.7% increase from that same time last year, per AAR data.
- U.S weekly intermodal volume saw a 7.5% increase from the same time frame as last year.
- Commodities of motor vehicles and parts, chemicals, and non-metallic minerals all saw increases. While coal, metallic ores and metals, and forest products all saw decreases.
- For the first 17 weeks of this year, rail volume in North America was 11,142,754 carloads and intermodal units – seeing a 2% increase from last year.
Recent Comments