Rail News

Shippers are frontloading cargo on Canadian Pacific Railway ahead of a potential Teamsters strike on March 16, causing a surge in volume and delays getting containers onto trains.

Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern have run their first-ever Mexico to US Midwest international intermodal train together as the US Surface Transportation Board reviews the merger of the two railroads.

The land bridge rail network between Asia and North Europe, a popular alternative to ocean shipping, is now restricted as carriers suspend bookings to a key rail hub in Belarus.

As container lines pull back on inland point intermodal (IPI), US importers are rethinking their landside delivery plans and containerized freight is moving further inland before being deconsolidated.

For the second consecutive year, Union Pacific Railroad is putting surcharges on excess cargo and spot volume out of California and Washington to control the supply of domestic 53-foot containers and chassis.

The Port of Long Beach’s $870 million Pier B On-Dock Rail project does nothing to address the fundamental flaws with on-dock loading and its design is already obsolete, says the co-founder of intermodal service provider Tiger Cool Express.

Schneider wants intermodal customers to know that service will remain strong on BNSF Railway this year ahead of its transition to rival Union Pacific Railroad in 2023.

A swing towards more transloading has been advanced as a reason for the sharp decline in Inland Point Intermodal activity out of California, but an analysis of the data does not support that belief, writes analyst Larry Gross.

Intermodal contracts saved shippers more money than ever in Q4, but they saved much less money on the spot market due to surcharges in California.

The creativity of service providers is being tested as COVID-19 infections continue to spread around Asia and disrupt regional supply lines.

The timeline for the withdrawal of China-Europe rail network subsidies remains unclear, but with rates at such high levels, forwarders are wondering whether it even matters.

The Alabama Port Authority is looking to add an inland rail terminal with the purchase of land near the state capitol of Montgomery.

Tracy Robinson will become the first female CEO of Canadian National Railway when the former Canadian Pacific executive takes over for J.J. Ruest at the end of February.

The freight volumes that have stressed the Asia-Europe rail trade for the past 10 months after shifting from the congested and costly air and ocean markets have begun to ease ahead of Chinese New Year.

CSX Transportation CEO James Foote told federal regulators he will look to increase headcount at the Class I railroad as it seeks to take more business from trucking

Schneider National will leave BNSF Railway in 2023 to partner with Union Pacific Railroad, the third major container-owning intermodal provider to leave BNSF since mid-2021.

J.B. Hunt warns container dwells and train speeds are still below par, while new 53-foot boxes it ordered are still on the water, stuck in the ongoing congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

CSX laid out its case to federal regulators that it should be allowed to acquire New England’s Pan Am Railways in order to give shippers better intermodal service into Northeast ports.

There is no single solution to the problems underlying the international supply chain meltdown, but the steamship lines, port terminals, railroads, and cargo owners can take action now to fend off a repeat occurrence of 2021’s disruption.

Several Southeast ports will expand container capacity in 2022, but the question for most is when will Savannah clear all the anchored vessels outside its harbor?

Only by thinning out the stacks of empty containers in terminals will prior levels of throughput and productivity be re-established in US ports, JOC analyst Larry Gross says.

Norfolk Southern Railway will reduce international intermodal service out of Cincinnati to the West Coast, calling the routes “low volume,” but exporters may end up paying more for the changes.

Union Pacific Railroad will rescind its peak season surcharges, a sign that domestic intermodal congestion in the western US has improved considerably in recent weeks

While most shippers are concerned about whether there will be enough chassis and fluidity in railroad terminals in 2022, they are also bracing for a steep increase in contract rates.

Ports and marine terminals say that more containers can be moved through on-dock rail now that service has improved, and rail car supply has eased.

Canadian Pacific has signed a multi-year agreement to continue to move goods for Canadian Tire, which will include the inland port the tire company purchased a stake in this August.

Domestic intermodal shippers who want to use BNSF Railway to send cargo in 53-foot containers will have one fewer service option come Jan. 1, JOC.com has learned.

The Port of Long Beach’s project to move over one-third of its container volumes to rail received a boost from the US Department of Transportation through a $52 million grant.

Pandemic-born disruption will continue forcing logistics practitioners to rework supply chains in 2022 to deal with ongoing congestion and equipment shortages.

Shippers are paying demurrage to BNSF Railway in Dallas, Phoenix, and Stockton because there are not enough DCLI chassis to pick up 53-foot containers.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have excess on-dock rail capacity, so they are urging importers to ship more containers via intermodal rail to increase cargo velocity in Southern California.

Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires will retire in May, capping a 29-year stint at the US railroad and six years in the top job, which included a transition to precision scheduled railroading.

Construction has begun that would allow double-stack trains between Baltimore and Midwest cities such as Chicago, a major step in the Port of Baltimore’s effort to build its intermodal profile with shippers.

The backlog of ocean containers clogging intermodal hubs in the interior US has eased considerably in the past three months thanks to limitations placed on rail volumes flowing inland from major import gateways, but the ports themselves remain congested.

While contract intermodal customers are realizing huge savings using rail this year, spot intermodal rates are not the bargain they were earlier in 2021.

Norfolk Southern will cut the free time for importers to pick up ocean containers at more than two dozen smaller-market terminals, while also raising storage fees.

Union Pacific Railroad plans on running longer trains from Long Beach to Utah as the Port of Long Beach works with Utah Inland Port Authority to move more containers onto rail.

UP is grading domestic intermodal customers on dwelling of equipment, street turns of containers, and use of appointments using a four-tier monthly report card.

The western US railroads are offering refunds to customers who bring containers into their Los Angeles metro intermodal terminals on the weekends, a move to incentivize off-peak business.

Union Pacific Railroad says its decision to temporarily suspend westbound container flow at its near-dock ICTF yard in Los Angeles-Long Beach is needed to re-establish eastbound-westbound container balance at the facility.