THE irony of port congestion is that the measures to move cargo faster and more cheaply are often what makes movement slower and more expensive, a US Federal Maritime Commission hearing was told in Los Angeles.
Larger ships discharging massive amounts over short periods, new and larger vessel-sharing agreements, decisions by shippiing lines to no longer provide chassis were all done to save time and money, Michele Grubbs, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, told the FMC commissioners.
“Each of these factors has evolved in response to demands for increased efficiency, flexibility in service and to cut costs for customers," she said.
"But each of these have been cited as leading to congestion, increased costs and frustration at terminals,?said Ms Grubbs whose organisation represents terminal operators and ocean carriers in southern California.
Other witnesses agreed that congestion - for reasons she cited - was getting worse at American ports, and some witnesses proposed solutions.
Ms Grubbs said a "ya'all-come" gray chassis pool would help availability and ease the burden of terminal operators, who needed to clear dock space.
She also liked the Free-Flow system, now being tested by PierPass. This is a new way of handling large blocks of cargo for one consignee - having picked up by a flowing fleet of trucks as cargo comes off the ship rather that having truckers wait until a particular box emerges from the stack.
Bristling with complaint, Sears Holding vice president Bob Wysocki said it took “one to two weeks to get [boxes] on a train, and once on a train, two weeks from there. This is our Super Bowl month for Sears Holding. Merchandise is not getting to our stores. We need to do this better?
Said California Cartage CEO Robert Curry: “Congestion is really bad, and the turn times we get are really bad also.?
Two or four years ago, he said, his drivers did twice as many turns at container terminals than they do today, reported American Shipper. He said turn times can be as long as seven hours, measured from the time a trucker driver joins a queue until he leaves.
Mr Curry also said Hours of Service rules get in the way. “Many times we have to shut down the drivers - sometimes as many as 50 or 60 of them - because they have exceeded their hours, and there are still many containers to pick up,?he said.
“Steamship lines decided to get out of the chassis business, so now we have three chassis lessors. We can go into a terminal and there are no chassis for a particular steamship line, yet there are 200 chassis that belong to another line - which we can’t use," Mr Curry said.
Harbour Trucking Association executive director Alex Cherin said 22 per cent of all visits to terminals are taking more than two hours. He said it was better to have a "24/7 system to provide a relief valve to some of the congestion?
Mr Cherin said the Canadian Port of Vancouver has changed its tariff to penalise terminals that do not meet a 90-minute turn time, and that such incentives should be provided to carriers.
PierPass, created by terminal operators to get shippers to move more containers at night had worked, said Port of Long Beach CEO Jon Slangerup, adding that 55 per cent of containers move at night, easing road congestion during the day.
But he said, “there has to be a PierPass 2.0?that should apply information technology more effectively.
WORLD SHIPPING
17 September 2014 - 19:15
US FMC's travelling congestion hearings finds solutions are often the problem
THE irony of port congestion is that the measures to move cargo faster and more cheaply are often what makes movement slower and more expensive, a US Federal Maritime Commission hearing was told in Los Angeles.
WORLD SHIPPING
17 September 2014 - 19:15
US FMC's travelling congestion hearings finds solutions are often the problem
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