Weekly Update Week 30: July 18th-22nd
July 21, 2022
Operations Update:
NY/NJ Port Update:
ALL Ports/Terminals report seeing record breaking numbers of vessels/containers, up 30% from last year. Severe Chassis Shortages and massive congestion at all area Ports/Terminals. We have had recent examples of vessels waiting for a berth for weeks and then rerouting to come back to NY at a later date. We continue to monitor the situation, and encourage our customers to plan and order as early as possible to mitigate the delays.
Truckers Protesting AB5 Block Oakland Terminal Access:
According to FreightWaves, an estimated 400 owner-operators took to the Port of Oakland in protest at California’s independent contractor law, Assembly Bill 5 (AB5). AB5 seeks to limit the use of independent contractors, mostly by reclassifying them as employees. As a result, protestors have managed to shut down truck traffic at all three terminals. This action extended until the end of this week. Truckers in Southern California will also rally at Los Angeles and Long Beach terminals. This is expected to restrict operations so severely that terminal operators will shut down gate operations. Five Elenteny containers were affected by this action and will be delayed until next week.
The Agricultural Transport Coalition (AgTC) has communicated this morning that the California Governor’s office has confirmed there will not be a delay or suspension of California AB5 legislation, which is the purpose of the protest action at the terminals. More about California AB5 can be found in this article from Reuters.
The closures at the port terminals will severely impact all operations at the ports and add to the existing congestion. This will impact pickup, delivery and return of containers at the terminals, additional charges may apply if loads need to be placed in storage until redelivery can be attempted again
Rail Strike Averted:
A rail strike was averted after President Biden issued an executive order and created a Presidential Emergency Board to intervene in the stalled negotiations. There will now be a 60 day period to come to a new agreement, pushing any possible strike action to mid-September. Although we move very few containers by rail, a strike would have further impacted ports and pushed trucking rates up.
