East Coast Port Capacity Tested

The Journal of Commerce reports, “High volume and the lingering impact of West Coast gridlock continue to produce uneven delays at East Coast container ports.”
Hampton Roads at the Port of Virginia and the Port of NY/NJ have been especially impacted by the volume surge. Both are staying open through Good Friday in order to catch up on some of the backlog. The Port of Savannah in Georgia has also seen sharp increases in volume due in combination to rerouted cargo from the West Coast and a strengthening economy. In February alone, container throughput at the port increased 14.2%. Even so, turn times for truckers at the Port of Savannah are still reportedly much faster than at other East Coast ports.
We will continue to monitor the congestion on the East Coast and will do all we can to ensure our members do not experience any delays.
JOClogo
Volume surge tests US East Coast port capacity

Joseph Bonney, Senior Editor | Apr 02, 2015 6:27PM EDT

High volume and the lingering impact of West Coast gridlock continue to produce uneven delays at East Coast container ports.

The Port of Virginia’s Hampton Roads terminals and Port Newark Container Terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey will stay open on Good Friday, an International Longshoremen’s Association holiday, to catch up on backlogs.

Virginia has been running hard since losing four days to winter weather in February. The port authority has taken a series of steps to get a handle on congestion that has lengthened turn times for truckers. PNCT has had to divert some of its increased business to other New York-New Jersey terminals.

Several East Coast ports are dealing with container volume growth from a strengthening economy and shippers avoiding months of West Coast delays that only recently have begun to ease following a tentative agreement on a new longshore labor contract.

Some of the sharpest increases have been at Savannah, where volume has been boosted by carrier deployments of extra “sweeper ships” to handle cargo rerouted to avoid West Coast congestion.

Savannah posted year-over-year increases for loaded containers of 8.6 percent in February and 11.8 percent for the first eight months of its fiscal year. Including empty boxes, throughput soared 14.2 percent in February and 13.7 percent for the eight months. The increases came atop record volumes in 2014, when volume of full and empty containers rose 10.2 percent.

Truckers serving the Savannah’s turn times remain much shorter than those at Virginia or New York-New Jersey, but that the Georgia port’s capacity is being tested.

An advisory by DB Schenker this week said heavy volumes at the port have begun to slow door-to-door deliveries.

“Savannah has its hands full,” said Mike Payne, vice president of First Coast Logistics in Miami. He said chassis supply has been tight at the port and at inland points such as Atlanta and Memphis, and that delivery times have slowed.

He and other truckers said Savannah doesn’t have problems on the scale of those in Virginia, where Payne said customers are reserving truck capacity two weeks in advance of expected pickups, or New York-New Jersey, where turn times often lengthen when terminals receive bunched arrivals of large ships.

Robert Morris, spokesman for the Georgia Ports Authority, said Savannah has been remarkably free of delays during the recent surge. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the way we’ve been able to handle the huge cargo volumes without delays and with our same great turn times,” he said.

Savannah’s annualized volume during the last two months has approached the 4.5 million to 5 million 20-foot-equivalent units that is considered the port’s capacity, Morris noted. Last year’s volume was 3.3 million TEUs.

Though volume isn’t expected to continue indefinitely at its current pace, Morris said the recent spike has provided a good test of the port’s capability. “It’s like like taking a new Gulfstream up, and finding that it’s flight-ready,” he said.

To deal with the recent increase in volume, Savannah has taken steps such as moving empty containers off the main terminal, and increasing hours and overtime for workers. Savannah’s equipment operators are non-union state employees.

The Georgia Ports Authority plans a series of capital improvements that will increase annual capacity to 6.5 million TEUs with improvements at its Garden City Terminal and dredging the Savannah River to 47-foot depth.

Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com and follow him on Twitter: @JosephBonney.