Ongoing congestion and inland transportation problems in North America have worsened drastically over the last month and continue to deteriorate. Demand for trucking services at major US ports now far exceeds capacity. Compounding the issue, several major North American ports have become severely congested, including:
Los Angeles / Long Beach, Vancouver, Norfolk, New York
Los Angeles and Long Beach are the worst affected. Severe shortages in trucking services, terminal & rail congestion and ongoing industrial action from maritime workers is causing lengthy delays and additional costs for both export and import cargo.
Shipping lines are experiencing unexpected increases in the cost of inland transport and as a result, will implement an intermodal congestion surcharge on all intermodal shipments to/from USA effective November 15th , 2014.
The charge will be applied to all export and import cargoes that are being moved via truck or rail, to or from their initial port of discharge, at a rate of approximately 100 USD per container.
Customers with cargo moving to or from the USA through any of the previously mentioned ports should prepare for potential delays and additional costs.