THE closure of a major storage yard near the Port of New York and New Jersey has forced truckers to find new places to store empties, making harder to make timely deliveries, reports IHS Media.
Empties also built up in the region because NY-NJ is the first port of call along the US east coast. Ships can't always take back empties because they are loaded with imports for the US southeast, and must take US exports.
Truckers say this worsens the problem of ocean carriers diverting empties to sites other than where loaded imports are retrieved, a problem that drives up costs to shippers.
'The empty returns are another hurdle that is reducing our productivity,' said Rob Movshin, regional vice president of harbour truckers ContainerPort Group. 'The first mile and the final mile in the international supply chain are the most important, but they are most stressed.'
Beth Rooney, deputy director at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said empty returns affect port productivity by unnecessarily tying up driver time that could be spent delivering imports.
Ms Rooney said the port authority is working with ocean carriers to increase their empty sweeps and looking for places where truckers can easily store empties.
'We need creative thinking on where to stage empty containers since we still have loads piling up at terminals,' she said.
The Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers, which represents regional drayage carriers, relied on Ironbound as a relief valve for storing empty containers. Despite Ironbound being closed for container storage as of February 19, Bi-State said they weren't informed of the closure until a week later.
'The ships are coming at us fully loaded,' Ms Rooney said. 'The terminals are stretched to capacity because the empties are not moving back at the rate they should.'
She said ocean carriers are sending in extra ships in the next two weeks to lift empties from the region. However, she said ocean carriers need to develop stowage plans that will more routinely sweep terminals for empties.
SeaNews Turkey
Empties also built up in the region because NY-NJ is the first port of call along the US east coast. Ships can't always take back empties because they are loaded with imports for the US southeast, and must take US exports.
Truckers say this worsens the problem of ocean carriers diverting empties to sites other than where loaded imports are retrieved, a problem that drives up costs to shippers.
'The empty returns are another hurdle that is reducing our productivity,' said Rob Movshin, regional vice president of harbour truckers ContainerPort Group. 'The first mile and the final mile in the international supply chain are the most important, but they are most stressed.'
Beth Rooney, deputy director at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said empty returns affect port productivity by unnecessarily tying up driver time that could be spent delivering imports.
Ms Rooney said the port authority is working with ocean carriers to increase their empty sweeps and looking for places where truckers can easily store empties.
'We need creative thinking on where to stage empty containers since we still have loads piling up at terminals,' she said.
The Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers, which represents regional drayage carriers, relied on Ironbound as a relief valve for storing empty containers. Despite Ironbound being closed for container storage as of February 19, Bi-State said they weren't informed of the closure until a week later.
'The ships are coming at us fully loaded,' Ms Rooney said. 'The terminals are stretched to capacity because the empties are not moving back at the rate they should.'
She said ocean carriers are sending in extra ships in the next two weeks to lift empties from the region. However, she said ocean carriers need to develop stowage plans that will more routinely sweep terminals for empties.
SeaNews Turkey