A SHORTAGE of rail cars is causing rail container dwells to rise at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and in the Pacific Northwest, with operators unable to move inbound rail boxes off their marine terminals in a timely manner, reports New York's Journal of Commerce.
Sources say that while rail dwells have been slowly increasing since June, the problem worsened in September. And a modest increase in pre-Golden Week import volumes last month contributed to the extended dwells, they said.
'We had some inventory buildup the last two to three weeks,' Alan McCorkle, CEO of Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles, said. '(The railroads) are not positioning enough bare tables here.'
SSA Marine, which operates three terminals in Long Beach, said rail containers are dwelling longer on the docks because it doesn't have enough rail cars to move the inbound loads to the US interior.
'There is a rail car shortage,' said Ed DeNike, president of SSA Containers.
BNSF Railway said it is responding to the problem and that conditions should improve quickly.
Yusen is starting to see a difference last week. 'It's starting to clear up a little,' Mr McCorkle said.
Dwells in August were 4.45 days, up from 4.14 days in July and 4 days in June. Just over 25 per cent of the rail containers in August remained on terminal for five days or longer, up from 23 per cent in June.
The shortage of rail cars is also an issue in the Pacific Northwest. 'Rail car availability is currently a serious concern due to the low volume of cars heading westbound to balance the high volume going eastbound,' Hapag-Lloyd said in a customer advisory about the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.
The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) said in a statement that the two ports have seen an increase in container volumes over the past several weeks, and that it has caused 'temporary congestion for intermodal cargo at some of our terminals.' It said the railroads will be sending in extra cars to alleviate the backlog.
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Sources say that while rail dwells have been slowly increasing since June, the problem worsened in September. And a modest increase in pre-Golden Week import volumes last month contributed to the extended dwells, they said.
'We had some inventory buildup the last two to three weeks,' Alan McCorkle, CEO of Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles, said. '(The railroads) are not positioning enough bare tables here.'
SSA Marine, which operates three terminals in Long Beach, said rail containers are dwelling longer on the docks because it doesn't have enough rail cars to move the inbound loads to the US interior.
'There is a rail car shortage,' said Ed DeNike, president of SSA Containers.
BNSF Railway said it is responding to the problem and that conditions should improve quickly.
Yusen is starting to see a difference last week. 'It's starting to clear up a little,' Mr McCorkle said.
Dwells in August were 4.45 days, up from 4.14 days in July and 4 days in June. Just over 25 per cent of the rail containers in August remained on terminal for five days or longer, up from 23 per cent in June.
The shortage of rail cars is also an issue in the Pacific Northwest. 'Rail car availability is currently a serious concern due to the low volume of cars heading westbound to balance the high volume going eastbound,' Hapag-Lloyd said in a customer advisory about the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.
The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) said in a statement that the two ports have seen an increase in container volumes over the past several weeks, and that it has caused 'temporary congestion for intermodal cargo at some of our terminals.' It said the railroads will be sending in extra cars to alleviate the backlog.
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