Rail News: May 7th, 2024

Rail Container Backlogs in Southern California

Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles are dealing with twice their normal inventory of rail containers and draying some of their boxes to a near-dock storage yard, in an effort to avoid the backlog creating issues with their cargo handling operations.

“The eastbound dwell has built up to the point that we have to use near-dock storage space – at an extra expense to us,” Yusen’s President and CEO Alan McCorkle told the JOC.

According to Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, rail container dwell times have steadily increases on the LA-LB terminals this year; 4.2 days in January; 6.26 days in February and 7.02 days in March.

Class I Railroads BNSF and Union Pacific say they are not noticing higher dwell times and they are ready to handle any increase in volume. According to reports, they plan to increase railcar supplies in Southern California in preparation for peak shipping season on the Eastbound Trans-Pacific lane, which it begins in August.

Total Weekly Rail Traffic for the Week Ending April 27th, 2024

  • In the U.S. total weekly rail traffic was 476,302 carloads and intermodal units. Seeing a 0.7% increase from that same time last year, per AAR data.
  • U.S weekly intermodal volume saw a 7.5% increase from the same time frame as last year.
  • Commodities of motor vehicles and parts, chemicals, and non-metallic minerals all saw increases. While coal, metallic ores and metals, and forest products all saw decreases.
  • For the first 17 weeks of this year, rail volume in North America was 11,142,754 carloads and intermodal units – seeing a 2% increase from last year.
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