For the notorious chassis shortages leading to congestion at ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Intermodal Equipment Providers and truckers blame bottlenecks at marine terminal gates. They want ports to make it mandatory for ocean carriers to exchange advance shipment information, which would increase cargo velocity across the supply chain.
According to the Intermodal Equipment Providers, moving record container volumes through the Southern California supply chain over the last few months has strained the assets and people of marine terminals, railroads, truckers, and distribution facilities. They argue that singling out chassis providers as the weakest link in the chain is unfair, especially since the IEPs are in charge of the issues over which they have the responsibility, such as chassis repair. With that in mind, let’s discuss some common chassis pool issues and their possible solutions. Throughout the Supply Chain, Productivity is Declining Throughout the summer and fall of 2020, port stakeholders have faced supply chain issues. As the number of COVID-19 cases increased this summer, distribution warehouses grew overcrowded due to a labor shortage. For safety reasons, warehouse operators had to spread their staff out across their facilities, which resulted in a decrease in production. According to the Pool of Pools website, the average container/chassis "street stay" period has more than quadrupled, from roughly 3 days earlier this summer to 7.1 days this week. According to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, the average container dwells time at Los Angeles and Long Beach marine terminals increased to 3.25 days from 2.8 days in July 2020, while the average truck turn time in September 2020 was 77 minutes, up from a record-low 58 minutes in June 2020, according to the HTA's truck mobility data. Rail ramps have also experienced chassis shortages. Because the Pool of Pools chassis supply has tightened, Union Pacific's Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF), located about five miles from the harbor, has lately begun to ground containers, according to UP spokesperson Raquel Espinoza. When contrasted to the regular process of taking delivery of containers that have been pre-mounted on chassis, truckers believe this adds time to their ICTF visits. What Are West Coast Chassis Pool Challenges
Local warehouses are overflowing, and things are arriving far faster than they are departing. As a result, there is a backlog of containers and chassis in warehouse yards (including overflow lots), where they remain idle rather than being emptied and re-circulated.
A drayage provider drops off a container and picks up a new container at the same terminal in a dual transaction. Dual transactions serve to speed up the drayage process at the Port, which is why terminals and drayage providers prefer them.
Terminals are only allowing visits from trucks with specified chassis during particular time hours under the new guidelines. Possible Solutions to Address the Chassis Pool Challenges
However, if you've found one that can accommodate you, the equipment is yours to keep. Unfortunately, the one exception is during times like today, when traffic is so bad that their chassis are clogged. Even asset-based drayage carriers will have to turn to chassis pools for reinforcements if this happens.
Need to Optimize Supply Chain Planning Non-interoperable chassis pools have caused a "chassis imbalance" in marine terminals, resulting in delays. The new agreement permits more than 80% of chassis in service at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to be interchanged, considerably improving the convenience and efficiency with which chassis may be obtained. The arrangement establishes a new chassis supply paradigm, with a team of officials from each of the three pool operators monitoring the logistics and repositioning of roughly 81,500 chassis on a daily basis. Each chassis provider will compete for business and set its own lease terms and rates, ensuring that the pools remain commercially independent. Billing and other confidential information will be managed by a third-party service provider. Meanwhile, California's second major load hub continues to send daily operational status updates to hundreds of harbor truckers, ocean carriers, and shippers in order to optimize supply chain planning. MWI Solutions is providing ideal supply chain and warehouse management solutions across the USA.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMcCombs-Wall Inc ArchivesCategories |