THE Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway is setting up its network to handle an expected surge following a pause in tariffs between China and the United States, reports New York's FreightWaves.
'I guess probably the most overused words in logistics is this 'air pocket' that hit us the last couple of weeks,' said bnsf vice president Jon Gabriel.
'Now, we do have some line of sight on shipments that are coming our way, but not yet. But if you look at the bookings coming out of Asia, certainly you've seen kind of that V-shaped check mark.'
It was several weeks after the tariff pause went into effect in May that the railway started to feel the import air pocket.
'We're probably three to four weeks removed from starting to see things charged back up on the west coast, LA-Long Beach, the Northwest Seaport Alliance [Seattle and Tacoma],' Mr Gabriel said. 'Post-Fourth of July, we think things will be busy. We're excited again to demonstrate that we're ready to move a lot of freight from the supply chain, just like we did in the first quarter.'
The railway has also used the import downturn to position itself for an coming recovery.
'We have more than 100 locomotives that we would call a 'surge fleet,' ready to go in the state of California alone, some nine miles of locomotives,' he said.
'And we have a large quantity of railcars set up against traffic in California, Arizona and Washington for the Pacific Northwest. We have also taken the opportunity to do some preventative maintenance, both on tracks and rolling stock.
'So again, we feel really good about our ability to quickly respond when traffic starts to make its way into the West Coast.'
Mr Gabriel compared the resumption to the period in 2024 after an early peak season caused by shippers frontloading to avoid east coast port labour disruptions by the International Longshoremen's Association.
SeaNews Turkey
'I guess probably the most overused words in logistics is this 'air pocket' that hit us the last couple of weeks,' said bnsf vice president Jon Gabriel.
'Now, we do have some line of sight on shipments that are coming our way, but not yet. But if you look at the bookings coming out of Asia, certainly you've seen kind of that V-shaped check mark.'
It was several weeks after the tariff pause went into effect in May that the railway started to feel the import air pocket.
'We're probably three to four weeks removed from starting to see things charged back up on the west coast, LA-Long Beach, the Northwest Seaport Alliance [Seattle and Tacoma],' Mr Gabriel said. 'Post-Fourth of July, we think things will be busy. We're excited again to demonstrate that we're ready to move a lot of freight from the supply chain, just like we did in the first quarter.'
The railway has also used the import downturn to position itself for an coming recovery.
'We have more than 100 locomotives that we would call a 'surge fleet,' ready to go in the state of California alone, some nine miles of locomotives,' he said.
'And we have a large quantity of railcars set up against traffic in California, Arizona and Washington for the Pacific Northwest. We have also taken the opportunity to do some preventative maintenance, both on tracks and rolling stock.
'So again, we feel really good about our ability to quickly respond when traffic starts to make its way into the West Coast.'
Mr Gabriel compared the resumption to the period in 2024 after an early peak season caused by shippers frontloading to avoid east coast port labour disruptions by the International Longshoremen's Association.
SeaNews Turkey
