Port Congestion and Delays
While things are slowly starting to get back to normal, congestion is still a major issue at the major ports in the USA. New York, Savannah, Charleston, Houston, and Los Angeles are experiencing congestion issues. The worst of it continues to be in Los Angeles where import containers continue to pile up. As of Wednesday June 29th there were a total of 70,290 import containers.
The number of vessel waiting to Berth at the port of Los Angeles has drastically gone down from the peak last year of over 100 container vessels but the problems still remain with long-dwelling containers. Approximately 41% of the import containers in Los Angeles are rail-bound. The rails cannot keep up with the amount of Cargo currently.
Los Angeles is hardly the only culprit. New York/New Jersey is starting to see congestion and delays due to the rail transfers and movement as well. What used to take a week for discharge and transfer to the rail, is now 2-3 weeks. Savannah and Charleston are having their own issues as well.
With Peak season very quickly approaching, companies need to start thinking strategically when bringing in their freight. Industry experts anticipate this peak season to be strong and the congestion and delays will remain. For inland points, companies should be allowing for extra time when they are doing their production planning. If moving through the west coast, 3-4 weeks extra is not unreasonable to add to the lead time. For east coast adding 2-3 weeks to the lead time is about the average.
Truckers plan LA/Long Beach work stoppage Wednesday to protest AB5: Truckers in LA/LB have begun their protests to challenge a proposal in California that would require drivers to be company employees and would no longer permit independent contractors. Trucking companies have already begun notifying their customers of potential delays as a result of the amount of protesting drivers estimated to be in attendance.
Inlandport network coming to Mississippi River: Plans to add container terminals to ports on the Mississippi River have started, starting a “north-south trade lane” for container freight. There are extremely large volume shippers in retail, agriculture and pharmaceutical industries based in locations that would find it much easier and faster to send freight to the Mississippi River instead of railing to ocean ports on the coasts of the US.
Long Beach container backlog crosses red line as delays mount: Last year’s initial plan to implement a dwelling fee at LA/LB ports never went into action and now the number of containers sitting 9 days or more has reached record levels since the containers were first counted daily for dwell time in October 2021.
Global Supply Chain Pressures Continue Slide (gcaptain.com): Global supply chain pressures continued to decline in June but is still at historically high levels, according to the New York Fed’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index (GSCPI).
China cuts quarantine for some international vessels (seatrade-maritime.com): China is reducing the quarantine time for foreign-going vessels which will be deployed on domestic routes after arriving at Chinese ports.
Customs Notice 22-14: The Administration of Heading 95.05: Clarification regarding the classification of festive articles for import into Canada.
CBP Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Importer Overview: The Act requires CBP to apply the rebuttable presumption unless the importer can overcome the presumption of forced labor by establishing, by clear and convincing evidence, that the good, ware, article, or merchandise was not mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor.
OECD Economic Outlook reveals heavy global price of Russia’s war against Ukraine: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine immediately slowed the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and set the global economy on a course of lower growth and rising inflation.
State of Trade 2022: The Benefits of Free Trade Agreements: This report highlights Canada’s robust trade and investment recovery, which has displayed remarkable resilience during another challenging year. This year’s report focuses on free trade agreements, which will continue to be vital tools for Canadian businesses as they enter this new phase of the post-pandemic recovery.
Resumption of the Remote Area Border Crossing Program: The Canada border Services Agency (CBSA) is resuming the Remote Area Border Crossing (RABC) program in northwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba, which was halted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This program facilitates the border clearance process and provides advantages for travellers who wish to cross into Canada in certain remote areas.
Government of Canada invests in warehouse capacity to relieve supply chain congestion at the Port of Windsor, ON: $5 million in funding under the National Trade Corridors Fund (NTCF) will be allocated to a project at the port of Windsor that will increase warehousing capacity and speed up loading activities, such as transferring cargo from truck to rail car. Through this fund, the Government of Canada is investing in trade corridors to help the nation compete in global markets and increase trade efficiency.
2022 Temporary import requirements into Canada for romaine lettuce from the United States: Romaine lettuce imported from the U.S. has been associated with several outbreaks of foodborne E.coli illnesses in Canada, which a recurring geographical area in California has been determined as the source of outbreaks. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is implementing Safe Food for Canadian license conditions on both romaine and prepared salad mixes in regards to certification and analysis.
Mandatory random COVID testing for air travelers established by Government of Canada: Random testing will resume as July 19, 2022, for travelers who qualify as fully vaccinated, arriving in Canada by air to the four major Canadian airports: Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto. All testing for air travelers, fully vaccinated and partially or unvaccinated people, will be completed outside of airports, either at select testing provider locations and pharmacies, or a virtual appointment for a self-swab test.
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