Drayage

A report from the US Governmental Accountability Office shows the possible, but narrow, path for adoption of automation at US ports as maritime employers and longshore labor along the East and Gulf coasts attempt to hammer out a new master contract.

Ports on the US East and Gulf coasts say they have spare capacity and expect minor disruptions as they process more than 60 ships backlogged by a three-day strike

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach registered their best year ever in reducing emissions, but they still face daunting challenges as they strive to reduce pollution that remains from vessel, cargo handling, truck and rail sources.

Trucking companies rushed to remove containers at East and Gulf coast ports before a Tuesday strike as nearby yards swell with container equipment and chassis.

Drayage and trucking firms say they are busy pulling containers from East and Gulf coast ports, sending them across the US on rail networks while locating storage space ahead of the Oct. 1 strike date.

The intermodal logistics provider said it will change its business model as state and federal laws make it more difficult to classify drivers as independent contractors.

The agency’s detention and demurrage rules are still unclear as to billing those charges to truckers, according to challenges put forth by ocean carriers.

FMC investigators found the carrier “overbroadly defined and applied” the merchant clause in its bill of lading to a third party “who should not have been billed,” the agency said.

The issue of whose chassis to use to haul a container remains unclear as more truckers opt to use their own, but ocean carriers and pools also look to supply the market.

Two weeks before new rules around detention and demurrage billing go into effect, the US Federal Maritime Commission has told ocean carriers that contracts independent of a “through bill of lading” fall outside its jurisdiction.

The exercise equipment maker alleged in a complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission that the forwarder failed to meet its obligations under a carrier haulage agreement.

So-called “gray” pools in Kansas City, Memphis and St. Louis will stop operating on May 1 after ocean carriers and chassis providers pulled their support in the last 12 months.

The federal grants lean heavily on further electrification of heavy-duty trucks, but also look to other methods for reducing emissions.

CIE suspended all imports of chassis and frames during a year-long investigation, but the manufacturer can resume operations now that US customs officials have found no wrongdoing.

US importers accustomed to shipping through Baltimore are facing the prospect of higher drayage and warehousing costs as they look for drivers, chassis and space at alternate ports.

APM Terminals will make more slots available for retrieving import containers at its Port Elizabeth site as truckers say delays in booking appointments are worsening.

Under final guidelines for detention and demurrage billing, only the shipper or consignee can be on the hook for such charges and bills must be sent within 30 days.

The 25,000-square-foot facility, to be developed by East Coast drayage and logistics provider PortCity, is due to open at the North Carolina port by the end of March.

The decision involving China-related tariffs is major blow to Pitts Enterprises and could force its Dorsey Intermodal chassis subsidiary out of business.

Trucking groups will be lining up to challenge a Labor Department rulemaking that will change guidelines used to determine when a worker is a contractor or employee.

Truckers say implementing the measure would push average truck turn times in Los Angeles and Long Beach, already among the highest in the US, even higher.

The Harbor Trucking Association is teaming with Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles to increase the number of appointment slots each day by cutting the container receiving window from two hours to 90 minutes.

Consolidated Chassis Management is asking cargo owners to encourage their trucking partners to sign up for the South Atlantic Chassis Pool (SACP) 3.0 before it launches in October.

CIE Manufacturing, a major manufacturer of new chassis, has suspended all imports of chassis into the US in response to an investigation by US customs officials.

The major eastern US drayage provider is looking to expand its footprint to California and the Pacific Northwest before the end of the year, markets where its major competitors already operate.

With demand in ports and rail hubs weak, chassis providers are turning their attention to refurbishing older, less-reliable units, a process that is expected to take years to complete.

With international rail volume down by double-digit percentages in 2023, chassis providers have an opportunity to reflect on the struggles of 2021 and 2022 and adjust their networks ahead of the next surge.

The first chassis for a new equipment pool covering the ports of Jacksonville, Savannah, and Wilmington, NC, arrived this week, the first step ahead of an October launch.

The ruling could place an additional burden on US chassis manufacturers to ensure their subcontractors are using US materials or paying duties on parts from China.

Shippers want Congress to address their inability to challenge rail demurrage fees when they contract for merchant haulage, but finding a solution will be tricky, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Geodis has acquired Southern Companies, a South Florida-based container drayage provider, the latest in a series of trucking and warehousing acquisitions in the US over the last two months.

The influx of new drivers to the New York-New Jersey port helped it handle record volumes in 2022, but the downturn means less work and possibly more turnover.

New York-New Jersey port truckers who worked five days per week last year are now down to about half that amount, sending spot drayage rates well below levels seen in 2021 and 2022.

Transportation and logistics companies continue to grow by acquiring competitors, and although the wave of acquisitions may have crested there is still plenty of opportunity in a soft market.

The independent equipment providers say upending the current business model would create additional chassis shortages and invoicing problems that would inconvenience cargo owners.

Drayage software vendor PortPro is attempting to narrow the gap between the tools that port truckers and their shipper customers use with a new container milestone tracking product it has launched.

The move by the carrier comes as the FMC is in the midst of a rulemaking process around detention and demurrage billing mandated by the passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 last June.

Technology startup Qualle is trying to overcome drayage industry inertia around matching empty import boxes with export loads outside of ports by using early-stage funding to serve every North American port market.

A decision by an FMC administrative judge on chassis usage will shake up the way chassis are provisioned for ocean containers, but there are several unknowns on what the future will look like at ports and rail hubs.

Analysts have told the Journal of Commerce they expect spot market pricing to bottom out and remain flat for some time before rising again, most likely at a slow pace.