US Gulf Report

Special Report financing path ,” Jenkins said . “ We ’ re going to do a test ship this fall , and by the end of the year , we ’ ll be able to handle a 15,000-TEU ship .”

With containerized imports through Houston up 8.7 % this year through September , according to PIERS , a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global , the port ’ s container terminals have remained fluid and efficient . Truck turn times for a double container move are under an hour , while a single-container move is just over half an hour , according to port statistics .

As volumes continue to grow , Jenkins said it will become more important for the terminals to handle the increase in truck traffic . The port since June has been testing its first truck appointment system , called Express Pass . Truckers can create appointments up to three days in advance and have dedicated lanes to enter the terminals .

Jenkins said 30 % of drayage moves are scheduled through Express Pass , which is still voluntary for truckers . He said he hopes to get 80 % of drivers using the appointment system by the end of the year , arguing it ’ s a necessary step for the port to avoid a repeat of the congestion and backlogs it saw during the pandemic .

“ It allows us to be better prepared for what ’ s happening , and ensure we have the right resources with crane orders and labor ,” Jenkins said . “ If we know what truck is coming that day , we can put the box on top of the stack rather than burying it , which is what we ’ ve done in the past .”

The rollout of Express Pass coincided with improvements to the port ’ s application programming interfaces and similar tools that enhanced the sharing of operational data with truckers and ocean carriers , Jenkins said .

“ There ’ s a lot that we can do to use up our existing capacity .”

Bayport ’ s yard operations are being further refined through an AI system that optimizes use of the yard ’ s rubber tire gantry cranes . Jenkins said a similar system will eventually be rolled out at Barbours Cut .

“ We ’ re seeing very , very big improvements in the way the cranes are able to recalibrate to meet the demand in the most effective way possible ,” he said .

email : michael . angell @ spglobal . com

Hurricanes not seen as truckload pricing catalyst despite relief demand

By William B . Cassidy

The damage caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton will take months to fully repair , but the impact on freight markets and truckload pricing will not be as great as initially believed , logistics experts told the Journal of Commerce .

“ We will see an immediate increase in relief activity , and that will drive an inbound spot market surge ” in the areas affected by Helene and Milton , Andy Dyer , CEO at Atlanta-based third-party logistics provider ( 3PL ) AFS Logistics , said in an interview .

However , despite increases in spot market pricing for dry-van , refrigerated and flatbed tractor-trailers , Dyer doesn ’ t believe relief efforts from the back-to-back hurricanes will siphon off enough trucks to drive up spot pricing beyond the battered Southeast .

“ With utmost compassion for all the individuals affected , the regions where these hurricanes hit are consumption markets , not production markets ,” unlike Houston , which was flooded by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 , Dyer said .

“ I don ’ t see this as the beginning of a long-term freight rate recovery ” like the one seen in 2017 after Harvey and Hurricane Irma struck Texas and Florida within a month of each other , he said . “ It ’ s what everybody wants , but this isn ’ t it .”

Dyer was joined by others who rejected a simple comparison between the back-to-back hurricanes of 2017 and this year ’ s Helene and Milton .

“ We were already in a bullish truckload spot market when Harvey struck [ in August 2017 ], with freight volumes rising ,” said Jason Miller , the Eli Broad professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University and a Journal of Commerce analyst .

The current spot market is still traveling along a pricing bottom reached more than a year ago . “ I don ’ t see these

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