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K + N boosts US drayage capability
Kuehne + Nagel has acquired a majority stake in IMC Logistics , one of the largest ocean drayage providers in the US with terminals in almost every major port city and rail hub . Terms of the deal were not disclosed . The non-vessel-operating common carrier ( NVO ) will have a 51 % stake in Tennessee-based IMC Logistics , formerly known as Intermodal Cos ., giving K + N a significant advantage in selling door-to-door products to cargo owners . IMC handles about 2 million TEUs annually from US ports and rails and generated $ 800 million in revenue in 2023 . While ocean carriers own other US drayage providers , none are as large as IMC , a family-owned company founded by current Chairman Mark George . Maersk acquired Performance Team in 2020 for $ 545 million . It has also owned Hudd Transportation- Damco Distribution for more than two decades . Mediterranean Shipping Co . acquired C & K Holdings in 2022 , including the C & K Trucking drayage division . IMC is much larger than Hudd-Damco and C & K Holdings . IMC owns 49 terminals in the US , covering nearly every major port city and rail hub , except in the Pacific Northwest and Florida , and owns five transloading facilities . By comparison , C & K Holdings owns 20 terminals in the US , and Performance Team has eight locations .
Panama Canal considers highway option
The Panama Canal Authority ( ACP ) is looking for more than $ 1 billion in funding to develop an over-the-road network connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans that would move containers carried on vessels too large to transit the waterway . ACP Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez Morales , who made the plan public at a maritime event in Houston in early November , said the authority needs $ 1.2 billion to $ 1.4 billion to fund the project aimed at regaining cargo now transshipped via Colombia ’ s Cartagena and mitigating the canal ’ s inability to handle the industry ’ s largest ships . Morales said the land-bridge option would have to be cost competitive , a challenge given the increased costs to unload containers , haul them by truck and then reload them onto another vessel . The idea behind the Panama project would be , for example , to remove eastbound containers on the Pacific side from a vessel too large to move through the canal , ship the boxes across the isthmus via truck , and then reload them on a separate vessel on the Atlantic side for the onward journey . The transit time via the Panama Canal is about 10 hours , while existing transshipment options take about two days via rail and four days via truck . The public revealing of the plan comes as the Panama Canal sporadically grapples with low water levels that prevent it from fully utilizing its larger locks that normally handle fully loaded 14,000- to 15,000-TEU ships . The ACP is eyeing 2027 as the next potential dry season impacting canal passages and forcing draft restrictions , subject to change amid increased weather volatility .
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6 Journal of Commerce | December 2 , 2024 www . joc . com