Transloading is a firmly ingrained trend in importer supply chain strategies.
Given the projected increase in ocean and interior point intermodal rates, high volume shippers will seek to reduce their overall transportation spend by cutting back on the number of ocean containers used to move intermodal freight to inland U.S. destinations.
Transloading into domestic equipment continues to provide importers with a lower cost option for transporting container cargo destined for the U.S Midwest and points east from the West Coast compared to ocean carriers’ IPI rates.
Today, the supply of 53-foot domestic trailers continues to favor Southern California as the primary U.S. transloading location. However, it is possible the projected increase in new 53-foot domestic trailers being built in China will enable shippers to expand their transloading to other West Coast ports that may have lower real estate costs and where harbor drayage companies can make more turns per day.
Another industry trend likely to increase transloading is the establishment of independent chassis pools. Given the likelihood of more independent, inland chassis pools in 2011, an $11 per-day chassis charge would favor transloading as long as national trucking companies do not charge shippers for domestic trailer chassis.
A competing trend to transloading is the availability of 53-foot ocean containers in Asia. Some shippers such as J.C. Penney are requesting more 53-foot ocean containers from their ocean carriers at origin so they can reduce their West Coast transloading. Perhaps more ocean carriers will view this as a market opportunity. But to gain traction, these containers will need to be competitively priced with the cost of transloading cargo into 53-foot domestic trailers near West Coast ports.