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North America Operations Update
Week of July 27, 2015
Dear valued OOCL Customer,
Port of Oakland
To handle the current bottle-neck and anticipated increase in volume, the Port has announced plans to take on an additional 400 port workers through September.
http://www.pmmonlinenews.com/2015/07/oakland-port-adding-400-dockworkers.html?utm_source=PMM+Online++071415+&utm_campaign=PMM+Online&utm_medium=email
The Port of Oakland has been issuing daily status updates. If any of our customers wish to be included as a recipient of these updates please submit an email to the Port of Oakland Marketing Department care of Yen Kelly with email address: ytran@portoakland.com
OOCL import customers with cargo on vessels affected at anchorage will continue to be advised of their shipment status on a shipment specific basis. The cargo availability of local import cargo after vessel berthing is still subject to man-power availability. OOCL export customers with changes in cargo cutoffs are being issued revised booking confirmations.
North America Rail Operations
Please note that the BNSF Railroad will be shortening their hours of free time and increasing their daily storage charge on August 17, 2015. They will also be counting all the days of the week as part of the chargeable time calculations. This means that Sundays will no longer be considered as a free day during the free time calculations. For more details see Item 37 and Appendix F of the BNSF Intermodal Rules and Policies Guide (R&PG).
The BNSF operation continues to recover from several incidents that negatively impacted performance during the past week. While they quickly implemented extensive train re-routing to minimize service disruption, the July 16 crude train derailment near Culbertson, Montana on the BNSF’s busy Glasgow Subdivision caused some temporary velocity reduction and a substantial increase in trains holding in the North Region. Traffic flows have since normalized through the area and performance has improved over the past several days.
Heavy rainfall and storms impacted areas of the desert Southwest last week, however, favorable summer weather conditions are currently in place across most areas of the network and flooding issues have abated. As a result, the BNSF reports that their River Subdivision in Missouri has returned to service after a month-long outage. While some sidings along this subdivision have yet to re-open, they expect continued service improvement during the upcoming days and weeks through this portion of the Central Region.
Truck Power
Truck Power to perform import store door deliveries and export door pickups continues to be a major concern especially in the , Southern California, Oakland, and the SEA/TAC-Portland corridor.
- There is a shortage of trucking companies willing to dray hazardous containers.
- There are no truck power issues in Canada or Mexico.
- Please see our Truck Power Map on OOCL.com for more information regarding advance timing required for door movements.
Vessel/Loop Deployment Changes
The Earliest Receiving Date (ERD) of Montreal Gateway Terminals has been reduced from seven to five calendar days effective July 15, 2015.
Information for export cargo container receiving windows as reported by North America terminals continues to be updated daily on OOCL.com.
Summer Schedule Changes: Below is an outline of summer schedule changes. For full details of the Transpacific Summer schedule changes please click here and for the Transatlantic changes here:
New Announcements
PA2
The G6 Alliance will continue until the end of August to omit calls to the Port of Oakland on the sailings of its Pacific Atlantic 2 (PA2) service between Asia, Central America, and the United States East and West Coasts. The affected sailings are:
- MOL Express (v.082e), ETA Oakland on 29 July 2015
- MOL Excellence (v.094e) ETA Oakland on 5 August 2015
- APL Garnet (v.067e) ETA Oakland 12 August 2015
- MOL Encore (v.082e) ETA Oakland 19 August 2015
AZX
The Asia Suez Express (AZX) service will be upgraded to include an additional Halifax call. This move will improve transit times from Canada to Asian and Mediterranean ports as well as from Asian and Mediterranean ports to New York.
New port rotation: Laem Chabang – Singapore – Colombo – Damietta – Cagliari – Halifax – New York – Savannah – Norfolk – Halifax (new) – Cagliari – Damietta – Jebel Ali – Singapore – Laem Chabang
Effective voyage: Budapest Express BUX 029E ETA Halifax 04 Aug 2015
Attached is our current vessel schedule for reference purposes. For the most up to date scheduling information please do refer to our interactive point to point or vessel schedule on www.oocl.com.
Pacific Southwest
- Congestion was still an issue at the marine terminals last week. YTI and Trapac, in particular, have had reports of longer lines.
- Truck power is an on-going challenge due to an increase in off dock intermodal shipments.
- Intermodal import rail inventory build up at LBCT and YTI.
- Harry Bridges’ Birthday is on Tuesday 7/28/15. GGS and Pier A will be closed first shift that day. Please see the article here for more information.
Oakland
- OICT was extremely congested this past week. Vessel operations are being delayed by labor shortages. Gate turn times averaged 62 minutes. Chronic yard congestion compounded by severe chassis shortages. Dual transactions were shut off early between 2-2:30 pm every day.
- Oakland Trapac operations were congested and turn times averaged 40 minutes.
- Both OICT and Oakland Trapac will be closed on July 28th to observe Harry Bridges Birthday.
- Oakland is extremely short of chassis and is extremely short of truck power; new dispatches are not being accepted for 14 days out. Truck power situation is primarily caused by slow import deliveries, early afternoon restrictions on dual transactions at OICT, and driver waiting time for a bare chassis to become available.
Tacoma & Seattle
- WUT was moderately congested last week. The terminal continues to post an announcement on their website which vessel(s) they will receive export cargo on the following day. Gate turn times averaged 27 minutes.
- Seattle T-18 was moderately congested. Gate turn times averaged 25 minutes.
- WUT and T-18 will be closed on July 28th to observe Harry Bridges Birthday.
- Regional congestion was moderate and continued for Portland container traffic to/from Seattle or Tacoma.
Vancouver
- Deltaport and Centerm Terminals are fairly fluid.
CN Montreal
- CAST Terminal is fluid. CN Rail is working hard to control the dwell times.
- Due to crane construction at Termont Terminal, OOCL services will not resume calling this port until the fall.
CN Halifax
- Terminal dwell times are very fluid.
New York Terminals
- Gate turn times:
- GCT Bayonne – 87 minutes
- GCT New York – 24 minutes
- Maher – 48 minutes.
- Door delivery truck power lead time remains 0-2 days in the NYC metro area.
Norfolk International Terminal
- Gate turn time at NIT was 42 minutes.
- Truck power lead time was 0-2 days in Norfolk.
USA Midwest & South Central
- Truck power is now adequate throughout the Midwest. See the truck power map linked above.
- Chassis shortages remain in Chicago, Columbus and Indianapolis.
- HOU’s Barbour’s Cut Terminal reported moderate congestion with gate turn times averaging 41 minutes.
South Atlantic
- Charleston ramps are reported to be fluid.
Mexico
- Services at marine terminals in both Veracruz and Altamira were normal last week.
- Depot, trucking, and rail services were all normal.
Yours Sincerely,
OOCL North America
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