The November edition of the ITS Logistics US Port/Rail Ramp Freight Index, which was recently issued by Reno, Nev.-based ITS Logistics, a 3PL focused on drayage and intermodal services, pointed to various factors impacting ocean shipping, including the election, expected tariffs, and ongoing labor issues, among others.
The ITS Logistics US Port/Rail Ramp Freight Index forecasts port container and dray operations for the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf regions. Ocean and domestic container rail ramp operations are also highlighted in the index for both the West Inland and East Inland regions.
This report focuses on up-to-date port conditions, potential headwinds, and insights that can help industry stakeholders make informed drayage and intermodal decisions in the coming months. The full report is comprised of updated marine terminal conditions across the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf regions and the West and East inland regions of the United States, looking at factors such as vessel congestion, terminal operations, chassis availability, container storage, transload availability, outbound capacity, ramp congestion, and ramp operations, according to ITS Logistics.
For port container dray operations, ITS found that the Pacific port region was elevated, the Atlantic port region was normal, and the Gulf Port region was also normal. And for ocean/domestic container rail/ramp operations, it observed that the West Rail Ramp was elevated and the East Rail Ramp was normal.
Ocean container rail traffic off the US West coast continues to be problematic as the rail infrastructure is not able to keep up with additional volumes coming into Seattle and Los Angeles, according to ITS. It also noted that while ramp operations throughout the U.S. rail infrastructure are running smoothly, the additional dwell time at US entry, coupled with earlier issues getting capacity at origin in Asia, is forcing many to dray-off, transload, and one-way truck goods further east into their supply chains.
“Container traffic entering the West Coast is still challenged today and experiencing volumes booked to avoid the Red Sea issues and East/Gulf labor union activity, which continues to test capacity in those markets,” said Paul Brashier, Vice President of Global Supply Chain for ITS Logistics. “This, coupled with the recent strike in Vancouver, will challenge U.S. West Coast operations as shippers find safe harbor here. This should continue into December.”
ITS added that changes in the November index reflect the temporary East and Gulf Coast ports’ agreement between terminal operators and union officials to reopen port operations after a brief strike in early October, as well as a sharp focus on how potential tariffs by the incoming Trump administration could impact shipping costs, supply chains, and overall trade dynamics in the coming months.
Regarding tariff actions, ITS said that there were lessons learned from when Trump was previously in office, when tariffs were implemented in late 2018, which lead to what it called a significant amount of container and vessel diversions, congestion, and overall supply chain headwinds, as shippers moved billions of dollars of goods in to get ahead of those tariffs.
“We learned from that event that the inland portions of container lifecycle mattered and drove the majority of costly, unplanned accessorial fees and cost,” said ITS. “As a result, shippers learned that controlling their inland transportation, onboarding capacity with operations throughout North America, and having access to container visibility platforms were the keys to protecting their organizations from catastrophic inflated supply chain costs. This will be something we keep a close eye on over the next 3 months, leading up to the inauguration of the Trump Administration in January, as many will start to ship ahead of more-than-certain executive action regarding tariffs.”
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