North America Operational Updates

In order to better inform you of the operational situation within USA and Canada, we would like to inform you that our Region North America - Operations & Customer Service Advisory notices are now posted directly to the website in the Offices and Local Information > North America > USA section. In particular, you can find them at the bottom of the Local Information page.

Those items where status has changed from the previous report are identified by an asterisk (*)

With the large number of congested ports and ships awaiting berths, please understand that the dates for arrivals / departures and cut-offs are constantly changing. Please check our Online Business section regularly for updates on this information.

Terminal Operations:

LAX/LGB Terminal Update:

There are currently 51 (-14) container ships at anchor or drifting awaiting berths in LAX/LGB as of Friday Oct 1st. Ships are waiting average 9-12 days to catch a berth. Both ports are seeing record volumes month after month that challenge the existing port infrastructure. Port volumes are up more than 30% so far this calendar year. Delays forcing ships to wait at anchor are expected to continue for the remainder of the year.

Imports wait for an average of 6 days for a truck to pick up, and street dwells are up to 9 days on average. Import rail dwell is up to 14 days in the terminal complex. All terminals remain extremely congested and limiting the windows for export cargo acceptance depending their specific situation. Customers continue to be urged to expedite the pickup of their import containers and inform any import COD requests at least four working days before the start of vessel operations.

The newly announced pilot program offering 24-hour container operations at the Port of Long Beach hasn’t attracted any truckers more than two weeks since the extended hours began, highlighting challenges facing Southern California seaports as dozens of ships back up off the coast. Hapag-Lloyd and the industry in general are facing limited single empty return options and many times these are restricted to dual transactions. Local trucking delays have been reduced and are being closely monitored given the lack of chassis affecting the industry.

The scarcity of chassis is affecting all types of moves, from local deliveries to terminal moves to/from off dock rail ramps. The LAX/LGB rail operations from all terminals and the off dock ramps continue to deteriorate as demand exceeds capacity. UP increased its announced operational pause to 6 days to / from the Houston ramp (from its original 4 days), effective 9/25/21 for on dock and 9/30/21 for off dock moves. Inland moves by rail are expected to continue seeing considerable delays.

New York / Philadelphia Terminal Update*:

New York:

There are a total of 4 ships (-1) at anchor awaiting berth as of Oct 1st. High berth utilization and congestion continue with vessel arrival delays running upwards of 7 days. During week 39 there was a high of 7 vessels reported at anchorage awaiting berths at various terminals.

Yard utilization remains anywhere between 70% - 99% at various terminals. Import dwell continues to be much higher than normally expected. High import reefer dwell is still a problem at all terminals as reefer plugs are at a premium, with dwelling units occupying plugs needed for incoming vessel reefer discharge.

All available vessel space is being utilized to evacuate the surplus of empty equipment. Gate turn times have stabilized close to established service levels, but further improvements are to be expected. Two of the New York terminals are offering Saturday gates to facilitate increased import deliveries.

Philadelphia:

Berth utilization and congestion continues to be very high and is expected to extend through week 40. Current vessel delays now running up to 4 days versus proforma schedules.

Yard utilization is still near 100%. High yard utilization is affecting productivity on both the vessel and land side. Large empty inventories continue to impact operations. Night Gate Hours next week will be on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings (Oct 04 through Oct 07). Terminal is offering a Saturday gate to facilitate increased import deliveries.

Savannah Terminal Update

Currently 25 ships (+2) at anchor as of October 1st. The terminal capacity is at about 85% utilization. Ships are delayed up to 8 days average awaiting berth assignment. The new first come - first serve started Aug 28th is making no difference thus far. Berth congestion continues with minimum 20 ships at anchor each day this week.

Ongoing projects - GPA's Peak Capacity project: which will add 800,000 TEUS of annual capacity in two phases. Phase 1, which opens mid-December now (expansion behind 7-8-9), will deliver 3 new rubber-tired gantry crane rows. Phase 2, to be complete in spring 2022 will add a 4th RTG. Berth 1 on schedule expected open 2023. Dredging resuming in October will not affect berthing of vessels like it did a month ago - it is maintenance dredging only and will run thru Jan 2022. Gate running fluid - turn times 44 single / 62 multiple since Monday - 43,171 moves. Rail running fluid with moves 6,124 since Monday @ 31 hours dwell time.

Seattle Terminal Update*:

There are currently 12 ships (+1) at anchor awaiting berth as of Oct 1st. Terminals are operating at 90% utilization. Berthing delays in Seattle are up to two weeks at this time due to heavy volumes. Saturday gates at Husky are now being offered to alleviate backlog of imports through October.

Terminals are not accepting empty containers until vessels sail making room for additional inventories. Additional space has been provided to hold empty and loaded containers at T-5 in Seattle, T46 in Seattle and West Hylebos in Tacoma allowing some additional empty returns for Hapag-Lloyd.

NWSA investments in T-5 are not slated to fully open until 2022 which will bring much needed additional capacity to the region. Chassis counts in Tacoma have improved, however the pool is running 80% utilization while street dwell is running 8.4 days for 40’ chassis.

To aid in import container availability some T18 import loads are being moved to T5; please check T18’s website for confirmation of availability and which terminal the container is located. LFD will be extended accordingly, please be patient while information is updated:

• Appointments are not required for pick-up of “available” containers at T5
  
• There are no chassis available at T5, so secure a chassis prior to arrival
  
• Empty return shutouts at various terminals continue to tie up chassis and slow pace of import pickups
  

Houston Terminals Update:

Currently 8 ships (+5) at anchor as of October 1st. Barbours Cut terminal is at 75% utilization. Port of Houston is currently limiting vessel operations (discharge gangs) so as not to overwhelm the container pads. Container dwell times are on the rise which exacerbates terminal capacity issues. PHA continues to move import containers to rail yard to make space on the terminal for working vessels.

Terminal is experiencing critical equipment shortages for chassis, gensets and reefer plugs. Labor shortages continue in Houston for crane operators and occasionally truck drivers. Terminal is experiencing berth congestion, currently limited to max 4 days.

Canadian Terminal and Rail Delays Update:

Terminals: Vancouver, Prince Rupert

Berth availability has improved however GCT is working vessels on a first come, first serve basis. Schedule adjustments are required to avoid anchoring and berth conflict. Yard utilization is presently running over 100%

Rail: Daily rail productions remains strong and both railways continue to provide stable railcar supply.
Rail dwells are presently at 3.3 Days.

Terminals: Montreal

The labor situation in Montreal has improved slightly and we are seeing reduced delays to ship schedules.

Rail car supply has stabilized as all terminals and dwell for the past week 3.9 Days.

Intermodal Operations:

Capacity limitation in certain markets due to import volume spikes and severe drivers’ shortage. Please find main markets, and estimate lead-time to secure capacity at the following link on our website. (Note: Lead-time refers to timeframe to secure truck power, it is not dwell time):

https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/services-information/operational-updates/north-america.html

Chassis Pools:

With the recent unprecedented Import volumes, there is currently a historically high demand for chassis throughout the USA. This demand has shown to be persistent on 40ft chassis and intermittent on 20ft chassis. In order to minimize any negative impact on supply chains, customers are asked to take immediate steps to reduce container and chassis off terminal dwell time. This includes all inland terminals as well as port terminals. Without a significant reduction in the dwell times, truckers may face serious challenges and delays in securing good order chassis as long as this surge in imports continues.

• Chicago (USCHI) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
• Louisville (USLUI) – Deficit on 20’ and 40’ chassis.
• Indianapolis (USIND) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
• Houston (USHOU) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
• Detroit (USDET) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
• Pittsburgh (USPIT) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
• New York (USNYC) – Deficit on 40’ chassis.
• Seattle (USSEA) – Constrained on 20’ and deficit on 40’ chassis.
• Tacoma (USTIW) – Deficit on 20’ and 40’ chassis.
•  Los Angeles / Long Beach (USLAX/USLGB) – Deficit on 20’ and 40’ chassis.
  

Railway Operations:

Please Note: Current average dwell times for Hapag-Lloyd boxes at several terminals / ramps. Includes, MH, rail and truck moves.

• New York, NY - Average 9.2 days*
• MMR rail New York – Average 5.4 days*
• Long Beach, CA – Average 11 days*
  
• Los Angeles, CA – Average 10.6 days
  
• Charleston, SC – Average 11 days*
  
• Savannah, GA – Average 8 days
  
• Norfolk, VA – Average 8 days*
  
• Kansas City, MO – Average 9.8 days*
  
• Chicago, IL - Average 8.9 days
  
• Memphis, TN – Average 9.4 days*
  
• Detroit, MI – Average 8.4 days*
  
• Dallas, TX – Average 8 days*
  
• Houston, TX – Average 12.9 days*