 ¡®Near-record¡¯ import volumes slow BC port flo |
Source |
American Shipper |
Post Date |
11/10/2020 |
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The ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert are expected to cont with vessel delays and longer rail container dwell times that emerged this month through the of the year as Canada¡¯s supply chain adjusts to an exted peak season.
Container shortages and weather problems at Asian load ports have thrown vessels off schedule this summer in the eastbound trans-Pacific. Terminal operations in Vancouver and Prince Rupert have been further complicated by the deployment of extra-loader vessels in the trans-Pacific. Meanwhile, the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways have not fully recovered from network disruptions dating back to a dockworker strike at the Port of Montreal in August.
In a Monday advisory, Maersk Line informed customers that excessive vessel wait times, vessel backlogs, and container dwell times in both British Columbia ports can be expected into November, although the operational challenges will diminish somewhat later in the month.
¡°Due to high weekly import volumes, dwell times remain elevated in both Vancouver and Prince Rupert,¡± the carrier said. ¡°On a positive note, while the import volumes remain high, we have seen improvement in Vancouver dwells and only a slight increase in Prince Rupert dwells from our latest advisory.¡±
Officials at Vancouver and Prince Rupert told JOC.com that while they are making progress easing the congestion, some bottlenecks remain in their supply chains.
¡°Operations at the Port of Vancouver continue to run efficiently, despite higher-than-expected container volumes,¡± said Arpen Rana, senior communications advisor at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. ¡°As a result of the high volume, we expect to see rail dwell at the three-to-five-day range at the port.¡±
According to rail metrics published on the port¡¯s website, the average rail dwell time in Vancouver reached 5.1 days in September. In March and April, when container volumes ped during the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the average rail container dwell time was 2.8 days. On Wednesday, dwell times at the Vanterm, Centerm, Deltaport, and Fraser Surrey Docks terminals ranged from three days to more than five days.
Brian Friesen, vice president of trade development and communications at the Port of Prince Rupert, said Wednesday the average dwell this week is seven days. He said the port authority is cooperating with terminal operator DP World, longshore labor, and the railroads to increase cargo velocity. ¡°It¡¯s flat-out with labor,¡± Friesen said.
Total container volume in Prince Rupert declined 3 percent year over year in September and was down 0.5 percent in Vancouver, according to numbers provided by the two ports. The Canadian port officials said September¡¯s volumes are being benchmarked against an unusually strong month in 2019, and they expect October¡¯s volumes will be at record or near-record levels. ¡°It just keeps coming,¡± Friesen said.
Montreal strike was a game-changer
Canada¡¯s problems began in August with a series of dockworker strikes in Montreal that resulted in vessels being diverted to the Port of Halifax. Canadian National Railway deployed additional intermodal trains in Halifax. Meanwhile, growing imports on Canada¡¯s West Coast d an imbalance in the CN network between eastbound and westbound train movements.
CN spokesperson Jonathan Abecassis told JOC.com Thursday the railroad ramped up its service this summer as peak-season container volumes began to build, and that move is paying divids now. ¡°CN¡¯s network is fluid and service to all West Coast ports is currently operating at maximum capacity to cope with the surge in volume causing unforeed demand at the ports,¡± he said.
CN president and CEO JJ Ruest said during the company¡¯s Q3 earnings call last week the spike in imports from Asia this summer d an imbalance in eastbound and westbound container flow, which disrupted network operations to a degree. ¡°Our train balance is going to get a little better here in time,¡± Ruest said
Average dwell times at CP¡¯s operations at the Vanterm and Centerm terminals were in excess of seven days, according to the rail metrics published on the port¡¯s website. ¡°CP is working closely with the teams at Vanterm and Centerm to address some delays that have begun in recent days,¡± CP spokesperson Andy Cummings said.
Still, most of the containers CP handles in Vancouver move through the Deltaport terminal, and operations at that terminal are fluid, said Cummings. According to the port¡¯s rail metrics, CP¡¯s average container dwell time at Deltaport on Wednesday was three to five days. Canadian Pacific does not serve Prince Rupert.
Freight forwarders frustrated by port delays
Freight forwarders expressed frustration, saying the current conditions ¡ª peak-season-level import volumes, weather disruptions in Asia or Canada, port labor strife, and rail delays ¡ª are not new phenomena.
¡°We seem to have to dig out every time something like this happens,¡± said Julia Kuzeljevich, public affairs manager of the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association. ¡°There is a lack of coordination. There is no good recovery plan.¡±
Maksim Mihic, general manager of DP World (Canada), said 2019 was ¡°an exceptional year¡± at the Fairview container terminal in Prince Rupert, and ¡°October will be up from October 2019.¡± Although extra-loader vessels have added a degree of complexity to terminal operations, DP World has had sufficient longshore labor to handle the additional cargo volumes and ¡°the labor forces have done a tremous job¡± in Vancouver as well as Prince Rupert, he said.
If operations are smooth, a marine terminal should be able to gear up for a spike in container volume, but when assets are stretched thin throughout the supply chain, the problems can back up to the ports, Mihic said. He anticipates container volumes will remain strong through the of the year.
Freight forwarders said the supply chain issues Canada faces at the moment could be mitigated if carriers, terminal operators, and railroads were more transparent and timely in alerting shippers and forwarders when bottlenecks develop so they can adjust their supply chains accordingly.
¡°What it comes down to is when commercial decisions are made, to look at the impact on the whole tem,¡± Kuzeljevich said.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have struggled with vessel delays, extra-loader vessels, labor shortages at warehouses throughout Southern California, marine terminal congestion, excessive container dwell times, and chassis shortages since imports from Asia exploded ning in late June with the reing of the US economy.
However, import volumes in Los Angeles-Long Beach accelerated much faster than at the Canadian ports. US imports from Asia moving through Southern California increased more than 20 percent in August and in September from the same months last year, according to PIERS,
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