2021 proved to be a mixed bag for the shipping industry. If one thought that things would stabilize after the outbreak of Covid in 2020, we were in for a rude awakening. This article will give an overview of the shipping industry with the focus on USA.

The first quarter of 2021 proved to be very challenging from the USA. The worldwide shipping industry was made acutely aware of the vessel delays being experienced in Long Beach, California. In Mid-January, there were some 35 vessels at anchorage awaiting to berth (this would equate to ±700 000 TEU), in addition to the cargo that was at the quay for export. This was compounded by severe trucking limitations, chassis and container shortages and rail congestion. Port, rail storage and detention time were all passed onto to the consignee.

The ripple effect of these delays was felt throughout the USA shipping industry. To name some of the problems we faced; warehouses were working at full capacity and at times ran out of space; vessels omitted ports; delays in manufacturing; the airlines being overbooked coupled with their 48-hour rate validity which led to unpredictable planning and service delivery. At the end of March 2021, the Ever Given Ship (Evergreen) was stranded in the Suez Canal blocking a vital link between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. The backlogs were felt for months afterwards with all the vessel diversions. Fortunately, LCL and FCL rates from the USA remained relatively stable. However, trucking, rail, port and warehousing charges saw increases.

At the same time, we saw unprecedented rate increases from the Far East. This was attributed to many factors such as container shortages, trade imbalances and the regular peak season surcharges. Ocean Freight rates were generally honoured for one week only. The similarities of airline pricing on supply and demand basis became evident. In addition, cancellation fees, in some cases, were implemented.

Despite all the challenges we certainly saw a substantial growth both on the LCL and FCL product. What was also clear is that customers who weighed up the options of shipping FCL or LCL often opted for LCL, as domestic (local) trucking was more reliable than container trucking.

We hope 2022 brings more consistency and stability to the shipping industry and that the problems of last year are a thing of the past. USA Freight Forwarders has certainly learnt some good lessons along the way.

Alistair Heald
4 January 2022

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor | May 19, 2021 4:38PM EDT

Drivers who dray ocean containers in the Midwest and South Central US are quitting in alarming numbers this year because rail terminal congestion has lowered their daily productivity and, in turn, their paychecks, according to trucking executives. 

Although trucking companies have raised rates for drayage service and increased driver pay, it has not been enough to compensate drivers for completing fewer jobs per day. Drayage providers in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Kansas City, and Memphis have seen as much as one-quarter of their drivers quit because of their decline in income. 

Average local drayage driver pay has fallen about 20 percent this year compared with 2019 because drivers get paid per completed job — not per hour or per mile — according to trucking executives in Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, and Memphis. 

With chassis shortages, terminal congestion, and restrictions on export loads and returning empty boxes, drivers have lost as many as three turns per day compared with 2019 and early 2020, the executives told JOC.com. 

“I dread coming into the office some mornings because there is so much freight, and not enough equipment,” said Tina Cozzi, CEO of Land Transportation, a drayage provider in Chicago and an agent of The Evans Network of Companies. “We are struggling to keep the drivers we have happy.” On the least productive days, pay is down as much as 50 percent for Land Transportation drivers compared with two years ago, she said. 

Meanwhile, truckload spot rates have reached record levels and drivers in those sectors are making more money than ever. Drivers hauling ocean containers have noticed and are taking advantage of those opportunities, said Brad Elam, vice president of Texas-based drayage provider Gulf Winds International. 

Dry van rates rose more than 50 percent year over year in March and were 75 percent higher compared with the dip in truckload rates April 2020 — the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic — according to a JOC.com analysis of data from DAT Solutions, LaneMaster, digital freight broker Loadsmart and a survey of truckload brokers. Flatbed spot rates are up more than 65 percent compared with a year ago, according to DAT. 

Losing drivers to the truckload market, or other industries, is exacerbating an overtaxed international supply chain. International intermodal volume rose 17 percent year over year in the first four months of 2021, according to the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). IANA reports volume jumped 18 percent in the Midwest and surged 26 percent in the South Central US during this same period. 

“We are having to do more work with fewer drivers,” said Mike Burton, CEO of C&K Trucking, a drayage provider in several US inland markets, including Chicago. “I need at least a 30 percent increase in our driver workforce to effectively handle the volume we’re seeing today, instead we have lost 20 percent. There are other opportunities available right now for drivers that are less complex and less frustrating where they can make more money.” 

With fewer drivers, trucking companies are struggling to get all the import boxes out of rail yards before the free time expires, and shippers may not be able to get deliveries or pickups as quickly as two years ago, fleet executives told JOC.com. 

Chassis shortage hurting productivity 

Burton said a local Chicago driver in 2019 could complete as many as six jobs in a productive day, but today the average is three jobs. Other drayage providers gave slightly different figures, depending on the city and mix of business, but trucking executives agreed the average local driver completes one to three fewer jobs per day compared with 2019 and early 2020. 

The executives also agreed that a shortage of available chassis is the primary culprit in the falloff in driver productivity. 

Railroads have “grounded” import boxes until more chassis become available, leaving less terminal space for outbound containers. As a result, railroads cap the number of export loads and empty container returns at those facilities, causing boxes — and the chassis on which they are mounted — to sit in a trucker’s drop lot, further exacerbating the equipment shortage. 

Ryan Houfek, chief commercial officer of DCLI, explained that the average number of days a chassis is out on the street has risen in every inland location, which combined with the volume surge has produced a paralyzing combination. 

“The freight surge we are seeing in some markets is up 30 percent and 130 percent or more in other markets,” Houfek said during the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade conference May 12. “It’s a combination of events that we’ve never seen before. There is simply no provider of capacity in the supply chain that can adapt to that dynamic. 

“In certain markets like Kansas City, the Ohio Valley, and Chicago, we’ve seen wild swings in volume, demand, and dwell,” he added. “And not surprisingly, that’s where you’re seeing the shortages occur.” 

In Chicago, Burton said drivers can spend at least two hours to get the right chassis. 

“The driver has to bobtail to get the chassis, wait in line for the chassis, and then drive the chassis to the origin rail to get the container. This can add up to an additional 60 miles of driving. A driver is limited to 11 hours of driving time daily under federal regulations. If the time to bobtail and reposition the chassis to the origin rail facility is two hours, that alone eats up almost 20 percent of the driver’s time in just one move,” Burton explained. 

Flip lines are too long

Truckers use a flip line, also known as a lift line, inside a rail terminal when a container needs to be loaded or unloaded from a chassis. There are several reasons why a trucker may use a flip line. 

If there are no available chassis available inside the terminal, then a driver would go to a flip line with a chassis procured in another rail yard to get their container mounted. In some cases, it will be a trucker-owned chassis, and in other cases, as Burton explained, it’s a chassis the driver went across the city to secure. 

Flip lines are also commonly used when a driver wants to do a dual transaction — dropping off one box and picking up another same move — or the trucking company owns the chassis underneath an export or empty container. 

Flip lines have grown longer in recent months because of the chassis shortages, including two-hour delays inside BNSF Logistics Park Chicago (LPC) on May 14, according to multiple sources, eating into a driver’s regulated hours behind the wheel. 

Cozzi said two of Land Transportation’s drivers spent nearly an entire day returning a single empty container each last week. 

“They both got into LPC around 9:30 in the morning. They had to wait for lift off because it was our chassis. They were there until nearly 4:00 in the afternoon waiting to get the empty box lifted off. We charged our shipper for driver detention, but that doesn’t even come close to recouping the productivity loss for those two drivers,” Cozzi said. 

One of the few bright spots has been in Dallas, according to Elam, where driver productivity has improved in the last 30 days compared with the chaos of mid-February. He said driver paychecks have gone back up too, but drivers remain skeptical about whether this is only a temporary reprieve. 

That chaos remains the norm in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Memphis, and Kansas City, according to Elam, Burton, Cozzi, and other fleet executives, with no clear indications as to when calm will be restored.  

Prepared by: Alistair Heald – May 2021

The ripple effect into 2020….

USA Freight saw a substantial increase of LCL, FCL and air volumes into SA from the USA.  In addition, we are currently managing container consolidations for a large retailer from the USA to SA.  They have multiple USA suppliers and by consolidating the shipments at either our New York or Chicago gateway. We then ship their cargo directly from our USA gateway to their distribution center in Durban.  In some instances, we have as many as eight different suppliers in one of these designated containers.

Between August-November 2019, USA Freight shipped 3 x 40’ HC.  An additional 6 x 40’ HC were shipped November-December 2019.  When performing these consolidations there are number of factors that need to be considered, such as the different configuration of how the various suppliers pack their product, to ensuring that the timing of container packing, before storage is incurred, is carefully managed.  Communication between our agents, the supplier, the importer and ourselves is crucial.  Sometimes critical calls need to be made during the USA time zone, in order that the containers are optimally packed to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum.

2020 started off with the harsh reality of the USA/Iranian conflict rearing its head. This could well see fuel prices increase to the already hard-pressed consumer. The volatility of the economy – worldwide – could see cautious business operations, this year.

In a previous article, we mentioned the unpredictable USA trucking situation. Fortunately, the trucking industry has become more regulated, with truckers’ logbooks being constantly monitored, e.g. ensuring that drivers were taking the required breaks and not working overtime.  The result was that a large number of truckers resigned and new drivers had to be trained. This training is still on-going.

Historically, Container Transportation in the USA is most adversely affected in their winter months for obvious reasons. Most of the manufacturing and receiving of imported cargo is done in the Mid-West/Chicago area which experiences the worst of the USA weather conditions.  Heavy snowfall at this time causes roads to close, resulting in long queues at the Container Receiving Terminals causing congestion both at the rail-head and port.

Since 2017, we have noticed that importers are allowing themselves longer lee times for these eventualities. If there is a critical shipment the importer will inevitably move via air.

In SA, the poor port conditions are also exacerbating transit times. Durban port is being refurbished which is limiting the number of vessels that can load and discharge.  Truckers can be stuck in the port for hours loading or unloading cargo. There is no quick solution to this, but the results are that vessels are omitting Durban and unloading in Coega, PE or alternatively being delayed at origin thus affecting the sailing schedule. This is applicable to all trade routes.

We are look forward to 2020 in a positive light despite the economic challenges SA are facing. The SA Rand has been stable over the last two months and we get the sense that President Ramaphosa wants to make our country more ‘business friendly’.  We hope to see him attending business forums regularly and interacting with key players to strive for a good political and business balance.

Alistair Heald

January 2020

It is fair to say that most South African importers and exporters are feeling the impact of the current delays in Durban. Unfortunately, we do not see this changing in the foreseeable future.

As a forwarder, we have noted that vessels have been terminating their voyages in Port Elizabeth, with containers being discharged and moving on feeder vessels to Durban. Alternatively, Durban cargo is being shipped to Port Elizabeth in order to meet the connecting vessel.

The delays in Durban have resulted in a backlog of trucks sometimes taking as much as a day to collect the containers. We have also experienced vessels’ ETAs being altered owing to port delays.

For containers originating in the Gauteng, North Gauteng and greater areas, Port Elizabeth has become a favoured loading port for export cargo and in the case of imports the city serves as a good option for import cargo.

Although this has allowed cargo to move to their final destination faster, there are cost implications of Port Elizabeth vs. Durban. Railage costs from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg are the same.  However, Road Haulage, depending on origin, is approx. R2000-R4000 more expensive.  (Your forwarder/customs agent would be able to give you the cost comparisons).

We are all aware that margins are tough and that we are all currently looking at cost cutting. It may, however, be prudent to explore these options if the trucking cost differential is not a “deal breaker” in either the buying or selling price of your goods.

On a different topic, but still on transportation; “silly season” has arrived with regards to airfreight. There is no doubt that the airlines are being overbooked as many of the forwarders are encountering longer lee times than previously. This has indirectly been as a result of the hurricanes in America, when vessels were unable to sail for 3 weeks and customers have chosen to airfreight urgent cargo.  Last week one of our consignments was delivered to the airline at JFK with the initial ETA being 3 November.  It has now moved out to 10 November.  We requested a flash rate only to be told that they were not selling flash rates for the time being.

Alistair Heald : 9 November 2017

In late 2016, USA Freight Forwarders were approached to offer its forwarding services for an ‘out of the ordinary’ project from Guayaquil, Ecuador.  This project was complicated in that the equipment (a large, plastic machine) had to be dismantled, packed in 6 x 40’ open top containers, shipped to Johannesburg, South Africa and reassembled.  The equipment in Guayaquil was to be replaced by other machinery imported from Italy which would be shipped in 13 x 40’ open tops.  Dealing with ‘open tops’ are a particular challenge, irrespective of origin.

After many enquiries to locate a reputable Agent, we teamed up with Blu Logistics in Ecuador. The red-tape involved and the subsequent approval required by the Ecuadorian Embassy that our company was legitimate, was a time consuming process.  However, by February 2017 we were ready to proceed with the shipment. Fortunately, our customer stayed with us, albeit, becoming frustrated by the long process.

The importer established the Letter of Credit and one of the clauses was,  “6 x40’ open tops, no partial shipments allowed” … The reason for this was simply that the machine in Johannesburg had to be assembled in the same sequence that the machine had been dismantled at origin. A delayed unit would have huge implications and down time for the riggers at site would have been costly.

Open top containers were not readily available and an intensive search commenced by our agent in Ecuador. Fortunately, these were finally located and secured. (The L/C had to be amended for later sailing while we tried to locate the open tops).

The dismantling of the machine commenced in June. All units were passed for inspection at port, barring two, which were customs-stopped. Finally the containers left on 20 June 2017 for the 7-week journey to South Africa.

Despite the challenges of this extra-ordinary project, our communication (at times very difficult because of the language barrier and time zone), common shipping knowledge and enthusiasm between ourselves and Blu Logistics was extremely rewarding.

The plastic plant in Johannesburg is fully operational and we wouldn’t hesitate to undertake a similar project again.

Visit to Carotrans International, USA

On a recent trip to the USA, I visited our USA principals, Carotrans International (Seafreight) and Navigational Logistics (airfreight). I met with Matt Spartz, Head of Operations in New Jersey, as well as the Atlanta office. Chris Wilson (previously a regular visitor to SA) has been appointed the new President of Carotrans Intl, based in Los Angeles.

Key developments are that the nearest Carotrans office to the exporter will handle all LCL and FCL bookings. This makes sense in that the exporter is in close proximity to the office, as well as working in the same time zone.

Growth in most of Carotrans markets has increased by 10% year-on-year both on the Full and Part-Load product, attributed mainly to the favorable dollar.

The major carriers have seen an increase in volume, but a reduction in freight rates. This remains a mystery, despite the regularity of mergers and slot chartering and I can only attribute this to all parties wanting to operate independently. Rates to SA have remained stable which I am sure is due to the majority of cargo being shipped on the direct service to SA due to time sensitivity.

Carotrans Intl offer weekly LCL services from Charleston and New Jersey into Durban. Johannesburg cargo is unpacked in Durban and road-hauled to Johannesburg on the same day. A weekly LCL service is offered from New Jersey to Cape Town.

Our FCL service remains weekly.

One of the interesting projects USA Freight Forwarders has been involved with recently is a cross trade movement of golf carts and parts from Charleston – Port Louis for the launch of two golf courses being launched in Mauritius.

In the last two months we have shipped in excess of 200 carts. The cargo has been transshipped in Valencia and the feeder vessel on-carries the cargo to Port Louis via Oman. This takes an average of 6 weeks.

Article written by Alistair Heald : 3 October 2017