Posted on August 11, 2021
In order to better inform you of the operational situation within USA and Canada, we would like to inform you that our Region North America – Operations & Customer Service Advisory notices are now posted directly to the website in the Offices and Local Information > North America > USA section. In particular, you can find them at the bottom of the Local Information page.
Those items where status has changed from the previous report are identified by an asterisk (*)
With the large number of congested ports and ships awaiting berths, please understand that the dates for arrivals / departures and cut-offs are constantly changing. Please check our Online Business section regularly for updates on this information.
Terminal Operations:
LAX/LGB Terminal Update:
There are currently 31 ships ( +9) at anchor awaiting berths in LAX/LGB as of Friday August 6th. All terminals remain and are expected to continue being extremely congested. Further spike on imports is expected as the peak season approaches.
Changes of destination (COD’s) and container “dig outs” are restricted due to lack terminal space and customers are urged to continue to expedite the pickup of their import containers and inform any import COD requests at least four working days before the start of vessel operations.
Hapag-Lloyd is currently facing limited single empty return options and restricted mainly to dual transactions. Local trucking delays have been reduced and are expected to continue improving. The LAX/LGB rail operations from all terminals continues to deteriorate due lack of rail capacity and railcars from both rail providers. This is affecting all on/off dock intermodal moves. Off dock moves have been reduced to almost nil.
Oakland Terminal Update:
Currently there are 5 ships (-8) at anchor or drifting in the San Francisco Bay area as of August 6th. The Port of Oakland continues to move its cargo volume numbers toward record territory. The ports total cargo volume increased 11.4% over 2020, and expect to handle over 2.6 million containers for the first time ever. At the same time, more cargo presents enormous operating challenges for marine terminals and ocean carriers at Oakland. Current berthing delays are at 6-8 days, however the port is expecting this to ease by the fall as more dockworkers are hired and trained in the coming weeks.
Export receiving windows are shrinking from 4 to 3 days in some cases to assist with volume on terminal. Alternative night gate hours continue to have low trucker participation. All berths remain occupied.
New York Terminal Update:
Berth utilization is high at all terminals due to vessels being off proforma and various lines introducing new services. Arrival delays are currently running upwards of 48 hours.
Summer vacations continue to have an adverse effect on labor availability, yard turn times, and productivity throughout the port. A slight uptick in COVID cases is being seen amongst port workers. Terminal yard utilization is higher than last week as import dwell has started to increase, and empty stock levels are trending higher.
Gate turn times at a few terminals continue to be slightly over acceptable service levels due to yard congestion. Some terminals are offering Saturday gates to facilitate increased import deliveries.
Savannah Terminal Update
Currently 13 ships (-3) at anchor as of August 6th. Berth dredging will resume ‘ tentatively ‘ in August for CB08-CB09. All berths available except CB01 – continued maintenance.
Gate turn times have improved slightly over last few weeks with more RTG’s (Rubber Tired Gantries) working the stacks. Imports have dropped slightly making rail turn time at 48hrs. Finding balance with imports, exports and empties is the currently issue being addressed. Night shifts are less productive due to manning of the RTG’s within the pads. There continues to be aggressive training with RTG drivers to keep road truck turn times to a minimum.
Seattle Terminal Update*:
All Seattle/Tacoma terminals are operating at full capacity. There are currently 8 vessels (+8) at anchor awaiting berth as of August 6th. Berthing delays are up to 10 days at this time due to heavy volumes. Vessel omissions and change of rotation are expected due to the delays.
Saturday gates are now being offered to alleviate backlog of imports. Terminals are not accepting empty containers until vessels sail making room for additional inventories. Additional space has been provided to hold empty containers at T-5 in Seattle and West Hylebos in Tacoma allowing some additional empty returns for Hapag-Lloyd. T18 in Seattle has started to pile import containers in inaccessible areas until there is additional space in the transrows as imports depart the terminal.
Rail car shortages to get imports off the dock is a major contributing factor to the overall congestion. NWSA investments in T-5 are not slated to fully open until 2022 which will bring much needed additional capacity to the region. Chassis counts remain low due to the surge in imports.
Houston Terminals Update*:
There are currently 5 ships at anchor in Houston as of August 6th. The Port of Houston I.T. systems were down 2.5 days the previous week due to hardware failures. No gate transactions were executed during this time. The terminal was providing extended gate hours and Saturdays to help catch up. Terminal import pads are full at Barbours Cut.
Terminal is short of chassis needed for certain import discharge. Deadheading empty containers is needed but also delayed due to ships working with metered labor and gangs.
Canadian Terminal and Rail Delays Update:
Terminals: Vancouver, Prince Rupert
Berth fluidity in Vancouver has improved and productivity has increased at GCT. Ships are still facing delays in the range of 5-7 days.
Rail: British Columbia continues to contend with wild fires across the province and the state of emergency remains in effect. CP Rail and CN Rail continue to operate trains at safe speeds and continue to monitor the situation closely. Yard utilization at GCT is presently at 99% and rail operations are producing 70% of daily target due to shortage of railcar supply by both railways.
Rail dwells on terminal are presently at 3.5 Days for Vancouver, 0 days for Prince Rupert.
Terminals: Montreal
All terminals are experiencing a shortage of labor, resulting in delays to ship schedules. This is expect to continue throughout the summer months.
Rail dwell on terminal is currently at 4 days.
Terminals: Halifax and Saint John
- Halifax, CAN – Average 1.8 days* port
- Saint John, CAN – Average 8.1 days* port
Intermodal Operations:
Capacity limitation in certain markets due to import volume spikes and severe drivers’ shortage. Please find main markets, and estimate lead-time to secure capacity at the following link on our website. (Note: Lead time refers to timeframe to secure truck power, it is not dwell time):
https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/services-information/operational-updates/north-america.html
Chassis Pools:
With the recent unprecedented Import volumes, there is currently a historically high demand for chassis throughout the USA. This demand has shown to be persistent on 40ft chassis and intermittent on 20ft chassis. In order to minimize any negative impact on supply chains, customers are asked to take immediate steps to reduce container and chassis off terminal dwell time. This includes all inland terminals as well as port terminals. Without a significant reduction in the dwell times, truckers may face serious challenges and delays in securing good order chassis as long as this surge in imports continues.
- Chicago (USCHI) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- Louisville (USLUI) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- Houston (USHOU) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- Detroit (USDET) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- Indianapolis (USIND) – Deficit on 40’ chassis
- Kansas City (USMKC) – Constrained on 40’ chassis.
- New York (USNYC) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- Seattle (USSEA) – Constrained on 20’ and deficit on 40’ chassis.
- Tacoma (USTIW) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
- Los Angeles / Long Beach (USLAX/USLGB) – Deficit on 20’ and 40’ chassis.
Railway Operations:
Please Note: Current average dwell times for Hapag-Lloyd boxes at several terminals / ramps. Includes, MH, rail and truck moves.
- New York, NY – Average 7.2 days*
- MMR rail New York – Average 2.4 days*
- Long Beach, CA – Average 7.3 days*
- Los Angeles, CA – Average 14.6 days*
- Charleston, SC – Average 10 days*
- Savannah, GA – Average 7.3 days*
- Norfolk, VA – Average 8.6 days*
- Kansas City, MO – Average 13.6 days*
- Chicago, IL – Average 8.4 days*
- Memphis, TN – Average 8.7 days*
- Detroit, MI – Average 9.1 days*
- Dallas, TX – Average 2.8 days*
- Houston, TX – Average 8.7 days*
