Ocean carriers have declared “force majeure” due to the Baltimore Harbor Bridge crisis and told logistics companies and U.S. shippers, including retailers, that they are responsible for picking up cargo once it is unloaded at an alternate port.
in a alarm “Those (containers) on the water will be unloaded at another port and available for pickup and CMA CGM’s bill of lading will be terminated,” CMA CGM wrote to customers on Tuesday.
This is the first statement force majeure — A clause in a contract that relieves each party from obligations due to events beyond his or her control.
COSCO Group announced wednesday morning Once the rerouted container arrives at the alternate port, its service will “end.”evergreen declare Same measures.
In contrast, Maersk provides transportation services. “For cargo that is already on the water, we will omit this port and unload the cargo at a nearby port for Baltimore. From these ports, land transport will be available to reach the final destination,” Maersk said in a warning to customers. Although it noted that the situation remains fluid. “We are still working with customers to resolve various contingencies and will continue to provide specific and general customer consultation as the matter progresses,” the company said.
Ocean carriers Hapag-Lloyd and MSC did not respond to requests for comment on their plans.
Logistics executives told CNBC that the next 36 hours will be critical for trade moving out of the Port of Baltimore after the fatal collision of the Dali, a container ship carrying 10,000 containers, into the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday morning. Crucial.
According to ImportGenius, the Dali was unloaded on March 24, which included clothing and household goods that may have been loaded on the rerouted ship. It also included about 80 containers of Satsuma citrus, about 74 containers of IKEA products and furniture, and 104 containers of Electrolux products. Includes freezer, air conditioner and microwave.
The Port of Baltimore also ranks first in the United States in imports and exports of cars/light trucks and farm tractors.
Major wood panel importers such as Lumin Forest Products, Sudati and Arauco also rely heavily on Baltimore for their supply chains.
“The impact of the Baltimore Port shutdown on the construction and contractor supply chain could be significant,” said William George, research director at ImportGenius.
Logistics managers say one problem is that ocean carriers are not updating their vessel traffic quickly enough to alert them to new rerouted ports so they can plan for customer container pick-ups.
Paul Brashier, ITS Logistics vice president of drayage and intermodal transportation, told CNBC that the company is fielding calls from customers asking where their containers are going. “They are worried that if they don’t get the containers out of the terminal soon, they will be charged late fees (detention and demurrage) for the containers.”
The urgency of picking up rerouted containers increases collection fees as ocean carriers declare “force majeure” on Baltimore-bound containers after they arrive at the rerouted port, and companies importing products need to find transportation before the containers are delayed.
“The biggest thing we’ve seen from our data integration with ocean carriers is that we haven’t seen discharge port updates,” Brashear said, citing ITS Logistics’ ContainerAI platform. “So what we’re going to do now is , we have to manage the logistics of the containers through the information provided to us by the terminal. But this means we are alerted when the container has already arrived, rather than planning while the container is still en route to its destination.”
Once the container arrives at the dock, the idle time allocated to the container begins to count. Once the idle time expires, demurrage and demurrage charges begin to accrue.
“We’re looking at whether the terminal will extend the free hours or waive the fees,” Brashear said. “That’s the question now.”
Tracking containers moved from Baltimore
To help combat supply chain slowdowns during crises and disruptions, the U.S. Department of Transportation has created a private/public digital platform for supply chain monitoring called the Freight Logistics Optimization Work (FLOW). The platform was created two years ago and has now expanded to over 70 participants, with over 60 more companies waiting to join.
FLOW partners with retailers such as Home Depot, Nike, Walmart and Target; Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railroad; and logistics providers CH Robinson, DHL and FedEx. Data aggregation from these engagements provides a platform for real-time data analysis of port and inland network congestion, as well as monitoring of unexpected cargo movements caused by world events, such as the incident at the Port of Baltimore.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Intermodal Transportation told CNBC they have heard from FLOW ocean carrier and shipper members and are evaluating options for moving cargo in the near and medium term in light of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Matt said: “FLOW helps us understand real, forward-looking data on ocean freight bookings 15, 30, 45 and 60 days out, and participating in this data sharing initiative means we can start to understand industry-wide rebooking trends.” CH Robinson responsible Castle, vice president of global cargo, added that all shipping bookings in and out of Baltimore must be rescheduled until the port is operational again. “This should help ensure that they have adequate equipment, adequate appointments and are staffed appropriately before we send our customers’ cargo to these ports,” he said.
Although the FLOW program has expanded significantly over the past two years, not all East Coast ports are included in the database. In addition to the diversion ports, New York/New Jersey and Savannah are included.
“But this is just the beginning,” Castle said.
Rail and truck service issues
CH Robinson expects rail service to return to Baltimore later this week, but Castle added, “Marine containers heading to the port, primarily from Chicago, will be piling up and unable to get outbound for export.”
Val Noel, chief operating officer of TRAC Intermodal, the largest ocean freight chassis supplier and joint management company and a member of FLOW, told CNBC that eastbound containers from Chicago, whether export loads or incoming empties, will be on the rail Stay for a while on Chicago’s pier.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Intermodal Transportation told CNBC that FLOW has not yet captured export shipments. However, the booking data it holds will allow participants to see changing trends in relation to truck to rail bookings at the main affected ports that receive diverted trade.
One of the biggest concerns for logistics companies is the availability of truck and rail chassis to handle the transferred cargo. Logistics managers told CNBC that the ports of Savannah, Brunswick, Virginia, Charleston and New York/New Jersey are expected to receive the diverted cargo. Ports told CNBC they can receive additional cargo, but logistics managers are concerned about whether there will be available chassis to receive the additional cargo.
“For our company, we have ample supply in Philadelphia and New York/New Jersey to handle any diverted cargo,” said Val Noel, chief operating officer of TRAC Intermodal, the largest marine chassis supplier and associate manager, as well as Member of FLOW. “We don’t offer chassis in Norfolk or Charleston, those are port chassis pools.”
Mike Wilson, CEO of Consolidated Chassis Management (CCM), the sole manager and chassis provider for SACP 3.0, said: “If the cargo is moved, it should also go to New York and Norfolk, and we should be able to provide services to Wilmington, Savannah and The Port of Jacksonville.”
“Once steamship lines (SSL) finalize diversion plans for unloading import volumes, SSL will redirect outbound containers held in Chicago to allow for a full analysis of outbound vessels. While there may be initial delays, the supply chain should be able to pivot to the diversion gateway and minimize any serious congestion issues,” Noel said.
Alan Baer, CEO of OL USA, told CNBC he has containers onboard the Dali ship.
“We have cargo shipped to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Doha, India and Bangladesh,” Bell said. “For our U.S. customers, our import shipments are diverted to New York/New Jersey and Virginia (Norfolk), with Midwest shipments initially sent to Norfolk. We believe our Midwest exports are also They will be sent to New York, Norfolk and Montreal.”
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