First signs of relaxation in the ports of the US West Coast

Austrian logistics enterprises expect normalisation of business handling within three months and an increase of freight tariffs

„The ports of the US West Coast are the gate to Asia. Every year they handle about one quarter of the total foreign trade of the US, equalling about one trillion USD. Accordingly, the nine-months labour conflict in the 29 ports of the US-states of California, Oregon and Washington Statehas a fierce impact“, says Rudolf Thaler, Austria’s economic delegate in Los Angeles.

The result were rotten goods and expired products. Car manufacturers transported urgently needed spare parts by air freight, and special offers of retail trade did not arrive in time on the shelves. After President Barack Obama delegated a mediator, an agreement could be reached on 20 February, initiating a relaxation of the congestion. Rudolf Thaler said: „A total embargo of th US West Coast ports would have caused an estimated damage of USD 1.9 to America’s industry per day.“

Los Angeles and Long Beach handle 40 per cent of the US container traffic, which makes them the largest ports in the United States. They also have to claim the most serious container congestion and are taking efforts to ease it as soon as possible. Last week 18 vessels were still waiting for a berth at the South Californian coast.

Austria’s forwarders and their customers had been affected by the slow pulse of the major transport axis at the US West Coast in the form of longer transit times and reacted by selecting alternative routes via the East Coast or the ports in the Mexican Gulf. General cargo was e.g. loaded to trucks in New York and carried onwards faster, but more expensive. Containers at the West Coast were transported overland to the East Coast, from where they were shipped to Europe. Scheduled businesses were handled by air freight.

Johannes Mikula, US Regional Director, cargo-partner forwarding, expects the container congestion to normalise within about three months, and as a consequence of scarce capacity – a 20 to 30 per cent increase of freight tariffs from Europe to the US. The same goes for Damien Griggs, US-Manager Weiss-Rohlig. He expects a price increase of about USD 100 per container on the USA – Asia route.

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Quelle: LogEastics
Portal: www.logistik-express.com