Posted on 02/16/2022 10:33:05 AM PST by george76
Some of the problems with our supply chain stem from the backlog at the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Staffing issues, environmental regulations, and, well, California just being California, have made the situation worse.
Thankfully, not all supply chain traffic travels through California. Ports in the Southeastern U.S. have worked hard to help relieve the supply chain crisis. The Port of Savannah on the Georgia coast is one example. January marked the 18th consecutive record month for the port.
...
Shippers have begun to see Savannah and other ports in the Southeast as alternatives to the mess that is California’s port system. Florida’s ports have seen such an increase — in part due to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ invitation to shippers to come to the state — that the state has had to build up some of the infrastructure around the ports to keep up with demand.
...
At the end of last month, Alabama announced plans to build a container facility in Montgomery to help move cargo along there as well. Officials claim that the project could create 2,600 jobs and help Alabama’s ports relieve the strain on the supply chain.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
California is gonna regulate themselves out of thousands of more jobs. Which fine by me, because that’s obviously what the idiot voters of that state want.
CC
Los Angeles and Long Beach ports are some of the least efficient in the world.. Unions .
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4005307/posts
The problem with Savannah, Mobile and Wilmington, NC is that the availability of outbound trucks is minimal. Not a lot of freight goes into these areas.
There are lots of trucks that end up in Florida. Many more trucks go into Florida than there are loads coming out. Therefore, you pay less/mile to truck out of Cape Canaveral or Tampa going north or northwest than you do out of other east coast ports.
This is the same case in New England. There are a lot of trucks that bring things north into New England with a lack of freight coming out. Therefore, if you send imports into New Haven, CT you can get someone to take it to PA much easier than if you send it into Newark. I have sent trucks from CT to IL.
Houston is also not a bad place to find outbound trucks going north to OK or KS or anywhere in TX.
Baltimore is also a good place to get trucks out of. They can be sent to NC, VA, PA, OH, TN and KY from there fairly easily.
The reason there is a back up of fright to west coast ports is because the final destination of the material in that container is going to somewhere in the western USA or even Canada. It is not going to BOSTON or NYC or Miami.
Thanks
Let me give you a really big hint. Railroads. Atlanta is a major transshipment hub, where trucks meet the trains.
Hold up...
Alabama, CSX and Norfolk Southern are building a huge rail complex called the A-USA Corridor initiative that is going to really spur growth and delivery from the huge port facilities at Mobile up throughout Montgomery, Birmingham and Atlanta. Georgia will link in the port of Savannah, Macon, Augusta, Columbus into the Atlanta metro and beyond.
Rail will then distro out to truck terminals so they can catch a large volume of Southeast trucking and even from Florida.
According to my neighbors who work for ALDOT and AL Commerce, the project is going to be huge, and rival the Southern California port dominance.
Yup!
According to my sources, the A-USA Corridor initiative is going to bring (initially) 40K jobs to Alabama and 60K to Georgia!
Was at the Port of Mobile in November - amazing how much Wall-Mart is moving thru Mobile -
Houston still has problems with weight limits - especially with Reffer containers - New Orleans is trying to steal those heavy loads from Houston.
LA-Long Beach will kill their Golden Goose
I understand Atlanta is a major rail hub. I have been involved in logistics for 36 years.
Not that many trucks end up delivering in the Savannah metro area. So, they have to dead head in there to pick up a container.
Therefore, you pay more per mile out of that port than you do in compared to Cape Canaveral or Baltimore.
This results in the fact that you can not truck as cheaply from Savannah as you can from other east coast ports. So, you can not truck it as far.
Ship it by rail to Atlanta.
Okay, this is different. It is called intermodel.
The container is unloaded from a ship and then loaded onto a railcar. The railcar then brings it Chicago(or elsewhere) where it is unloaded from the railcar. It is then delivered into that metro area or relatively close by.
What I was referring to is when the container or break bulk product like steel or lumber is unloaded at the port and then trucked to its final destination. This may be 100-700 miles away. This is where local truck availability makes a big difference.
Savannah has rails directly to Atlanta. Trucks are a small part of that picture.
Also, the ability for that container to go from Savannah or Mobile to its final destination depend on the rate the CSXT and NS charge out of those ports in comparison to other intermodal ports.
They may end up capturing much more of the eastern half of the country, but it is unlikely they are going to take business from the Union Pacific(out of LA) if the container is going to end up in Denver or Boise or farther west.
Oh for goodness sakes. I’m just saying there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and top men are doing so.
I for one welcome the economic activity round here, and refuse to disparage it or poke nit-picky holes in it.
I salute your superiority.
Yes, sorry for my confusion.
I am picking up what you are puttin down
Sorry, I did not mean any offense.
The fact is that people move freight typically based on the least expensive way to get it from point A to point B.
That is unless there is some immediacy to the freight getting there sooner. Intermodal typically takes longer than unloading the container at the port and trucking directly to the end customer. It can add a 1-2 weeks or more.
The crane company from across the Pacific was cheaper most likely.
In 1990 I was buying a Stihl chainsaw for $350. The guy right next to me was buying a Hyundai Excavator for $75,000. I asked him why did you buy that over the CAT Excavator? He said I’ll give you 50,000 reasons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.