Port Productivity : 2023 Rankings
Special Report
Los Angeles , Long Beach vie for largest portion of Asian imports
TEU market share among selected US ports imports from Asia
TEU market share
29 % 25 %
20 %
10 15 %
10 %
5 %
0 % L Jul Jan 2023
Jul
Jan 202424
Mar , 2024 Savannah Seattle-Tacoma Virginia Los Angeles Long Beach NY-NJ
Source : PIERS , S & P Global
“ It would be difficult , but not impossible ,” DeNike told the Journal of Commerce .
Stowing rail containers in designated blocks on inbound vessels so the boxes are discharged sequentially from ships , known as block stowage , is done today by some terminals in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach , which generate the critical mass of rail-destined containers needed to support block stowage of rail boxes , said Alan McCorkle , president of Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles .
“ Each terminal does it differently . As much as possible is block stowed , though it ’ s not perfect ,” he said , noting the thousands of IPI containers that are carried on the large vessels that call Los Angeles – Long Beach each week .
Prepositioning rail cars
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The key to making block stowage work is to provide railroads with data on the shipments ahead of the vessel ’ s arrival so the railroads can pre-position enough well cars at the marine terminal to handle the surge of rail containers from the ship , McCorkle said . “ We ’ re only as good as the railroads are ,” he said . Long Beach Container Terminal , one of two fully automated terminals on the West Coast , has been prioritizing the block stowage and discharge of IPI containers for more than a decade , said Anthony Otto , LBCT ’ s president . Containers are stowed on the vessels in “ blocks ” according to destination , such as Block 1 for Chicago , Block 2 for Dallas , and so forth , he said .
Since vessels on services to California usually call at several ports in Asia before leaving for the West Coast , “ it gets a bit difficult , but it works ,” Otto said .
Today ’ s larger vessels calling in Southern California now take three or four days to work , so it continues to get more challenging for the western railroads to secure a full discharge of IPI containers in a timely manner , said Dan Smith , principal at the consultant Tioga Group .
“ The railroad doesn ’ t want the train to leave 60 % full ,” Smith said .
Rail container dwell times at the terminals in Los Angeles – Long Beach had been increasing until recently .
L
According to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association , the average rail container dwell time increased from 4.72 days in January to 6.26 days in February and 7.02 days in March . Terminal operators pressed the railroads to supply more well cars , and in April the average dwell time improved to 4.55 days .
‘ An easier nut to crack ’
When it comes to the block stowage of rail containers on vessels , the question facing ocean carriers and railroads is are they willing to take the extra steps in their operations to make the practice work for the benefit of the entire transportation supply chain , said Larry Gross , president of Gross Transportation Consulting and a Journal of Commerce analyst .
On the other hand , the factors necessary to block stow more rail containers are there , Gross said . Ocean carriers have all the information they need on how many IPI containers are on the vessel and where on the ship they are stowed . And since the voyage from Asia to the West Coast takes about two weeks , carriers have plenty of time to share that information with the terminal operator , railroads and truckers so they can pre-position the equipment needed to handle the rail containers , he said .
John Wolfe , CEO of the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma ( NWSA ), said he is convinced that the operational strategy needed to make block stowage of rail containers a regular practice in Seattle – Tacoma is in place and will encourage container lines with scheduled weekly services to book IPI cargo for block stowage .
“ The railroad doesn ’ t want the train to leave 60 % full .”
“ This could be a competitive advantage for our gateway ,” Wolfe told the Journal of Commerce . He noted that about two-thirds of the inbound containers handled by the NWSA leave by rail .
Gross said the Pacific Northwest gateway should be “ an easier nut to crack ” than Los Angeles – Long Beach in terms of accommodating the volume . Los Angeles – Long Beach in April handled 48.2 % of total US imports from Asia , while the NWSA handled 6.5 %, according to PIERS , a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global .
At Terminal 18 , Union Pacific Railroad provided sufficient rail cars to handle the 300-container shipment of fireworks , while the International Longshore and Warehouse Union locals agreed to be flexible in their work rules to make the operation succeed , DeNike said .
Dustin Stoker , president of Husky Terminal in Tacoma , said he hopes the block stowage exercise in Seattle late- May serves as a springboard for expanding the practice to other terminals .
email : bill . mongelluzzo @ spglobal . com
28 Journal of Commerce | June 17 , 2024 www . joc . com