A new integrated rail complex about 130 miles inland from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will be built by BNSF Railway for $1.5 billion, the company announced Oct. 1. The Barstow International Gateway will include warehouses, a rail yard and an intermodal facility. Containers will be able to go from ships to rail and not be staged for their final destinations until Barstow.
The data says that cargo logistics are untangling, but that things are not back to pre-COVID patterns, Flexport officials shared during a webinar that asked if the cargo crisis is over.
The Department of Transportation is seeking public comments to assist it in identifying federal and nonfederal sites for the storage and transfer of cargo containers to help alleviate port congestion, the agency said in a notice this week. DOT also is accepting information on whether more storage space would help mitigate congestion, which entities would most benefit from more inland ports, how the government can create “the most effective strategy to implement congestion mitigation” and more. The comments will help DOT meet a provision under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act that requires the agency to study the “feasibility” of more inland ports to ease container congestion. Comments are due on or before Oct. 26, and information submitted after the deadline will be considered “to the extent practicable.”
As the Federal Maritime Commission considers reversing its rulemaking from 2018, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is arguing that unreasonable practices should continue to be subject to enforcement only if they are "normal, customary and continuous."
President Joe Biden on July 15 signed an executive order establishing an emergency board to help resolve ongoing disputes between freight rail carriers and their unions. The board will provide union workers and management a “structure” to address their disagreements, the White House said, and will issue a report within 30 days recommending how the disputes should be resolved. “The President’s goal is to make sure America’s freight rail system continues to run without disruption, delivering the items that our families, communities, farms and businesses rely on,” the White House said. The emergency board will begin work July 18.
The Federal Railroad Administration is going to spend $368 million across 46 projects, some of which are aimed at strengthening supply chains, it said. "Americans deserve a world-class rail system that allows people and goods to get where they need to go more quickly and affordably, while reducing traffic and pollution on our roads," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. "We're proud to award these grants to improve passenger rail for riders and strengthen the freight rail that makes our supply chains and our economy work."
The Federal Maritime Commission will now require global ocean carrier groups 2M, Ocean Alliance and THE Alliance to provide “enhanced” pricing and capacity information, the FMC announced May 5. The new information requirement will give the FMC more data to assess the “behavior” of ocean carriers, including information on the pricing of individual trade lanes by container and service type. The FMC now also will receive more carrier data “regarding capacity management decisions,” the agency said.
The Surface Transportation Board recently voted to issue a proposed rule intended to ease the process for shippers to request emergency intervention when facing supply chain delays on rail lines. The proposed rule, adopted April 22, would shorten the process for petitions for STB emergency service orders, under which the STB directs railroads to divert cargo onto other lines or railroads. It also would remove the process that a shipper secure an alternative carrier in advance, instead only requiring a list of potential alternative carriers.
Carriers believe Congress’ ocean shipping legislation may lead to too much oversight and result in an overcorrection of a temporary problem caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said John Butler, CEO of the World Shipping Council. Before the pandemic, Butler said, rising and falling export and import seasons “helped carriers and exporters work together to move product,” partly because ports weren’t congested with record amounts of cargo. But because of the “huge influx of imports, for which there’s been no seasonality,” the system has been thrown off balance, Butler said.
A White House task force recently created to examine supply chain disruptions (see 2106090021) should not ignore problems with air freight caused in part by surging demand brought on by delays and congestion at ports, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a March 4 letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.