This all makes me wonder why CN is planning to expand the port of Prince Rupert for container traffic. It would shorten the sea portion of an Asia-N. America shipment at the expense of lengthening the land portion. This doesn’t appear to make much economic sense, or am I missing something? Another reason for expanding Prince Rupert could be that Vancouver has capacity problems.
I can’t remember the source, but I’ve seen the concept discussed in relation to the next generation of super container ships which won’t fit through the canals.
It wasn’t mentioned in the show on the Discovery channel last night about building container ships and unloading one at Long Beach harbor. I don’t know how right or dated they are but some interesting numbers from the show were: 1/3 of all containers into the US come through L.A. & Long Beach. It takes 48 hours to unload ~2700 containers from a single ship. Half go on by truck, half by rail. It takes a full day to load a double-stack and it’s not loaded directly from the ship.
The railroad wasn’t shown at it’s best. First the empty train was late and didn’t have enough cars for the number of containers they wanted to load. Then they had a derailment pulling out. So trucks have a big advantage in being able to leave as soon as they have their container. The first container loaded on a stack can’t leave until the last one is loaded. On the other hand, if speed were really desireable it would seem to make more sense to make the ships go faster.
Another question , why has CN reduced container traffic to Halifax to ONE train a day from 5 or 6. Example, 148 Chicago-Halifax now terminates at Montreal. There never has been a Vancouver- Halifax container train, just Vancouver -Brampton and Brampton Halifax. It seems to makes all this talk about land bridges just what it is, talk.
In the 1970s energy crisis American President Lines and one or two others promoted the Land Bridge because a) the fees on the Panama Canal had just been hiked significantly, b) there was canal congestion (ships would often wait days to enter and traverse), c) the condition of the canal was deteriorating quite fast and the long term viability of it was in question, and d) the price rise in bunker C fuel made the ship companies think about minimizing miles run at sea.
As far as I know, there are no “trains” that run Long Beach (or any west coast port) to an east cost port intact. There are blocks of cars that do, but most swing from train to train somewhere enroute. The stack train as unit train concept is fading as the market for moving containers by rail matures and more lanes become viable.
West coast port congestion is leading to an increase of Pacific Rim traffic unloading at East Coast ports such as Savannah and Jacksonville and making it’s way inland by rail.
My thoughts that the landbridge concept was valid came about by observing the trains in my area . Here in the lower mainland of BC we have many intermodals both CN and CP. Somedays we get 3 or 4 trains in quick sucsession heading for and leaving Deltaport on the coast as well as some from downtown Vancouver and Pitt Meadows intermodal terminals. Some are almost dedicated to one customer-- ie China Shipping . Hence the thought that they can’t all be for Canadian or US customers ( now that thought is off base – thanks for the research Mark ) These trains quite often have foreign power in their consists ie IC, WC,SOO and others leading again to the thought they have worked through from the east. Anyway will stand corrected and enjoy the sights .
Question for Mr. Hemphill: In your post which began this thread, you said the Port of Savannah was the big winner due to increased traffic through Suez because of increasing costs to landbridge the containers from the West Coast. Why? Are other East Coast ports at capacity, or some other reason. Thanks.
As Erik noted, I hate it when Mark makes me think… which is all the time! (Actually, I don’t – but you know what I mean!)
One factor not mentioned, but one which is important, is one Mark has brought up before in onther topics – scheduling. For many industries, it is more important that the receiving department know exactly when a given container (or whatever) will arrive, and that it arrive at that time and at no other time, than the actual time in transit – in other words, speed is not so important as consistency. Ships deliver on that remarkably well; railroads… some do, and some don’t.
On the Prince Rupert question: guys up here in the frozen north, let’s not short-change ourselves! Vancouver is jammed, and there is a very large consumer market served on this continent (there are even a few consumers in Canada!) which can be reached from Prince Rupert via CN or CP. CN has the notion – I suspect correctly – that combined with their emphasis on scheduled freight, they can grab a chunk of that from Prince Rupert.
Halifax? I love Halifax. It is one of my favourite cities. But there isn’t a whole lot shipped out of eastern Canada to Europe…
Savannah, Charleston, and to some respects Jacksonville also have the luxery of space, that is not available in some of the the more tradition port cites such as Newark, Boston, and Baltimore. New infrastrcuture can be built or expanded without too much hassle, and state governments willing to create enterprise zones to capitalize on this. The only real disadvantage to the southern ports is that they are in hurricane alley and the June to Oct timeframe can create delays or diversions.
The point about Halifax is that it is MUCH closer via great-circle to European ports. Presumably if a fast train-handling operation can bring those containers down (e.g. via Guilford, but also through Canada then ex-IC) it can shave a certain amount of time and trouble off the sea routes… and improve the vessel utilization, too, particularly as security requirements at US ports begin to ramp up, and container terminal traffic approaches saturation. Remains to be seen if the demographics to and from EU countries support this. With modern container ships being both fast and cheap, it might require good knowledge of terminal-to-end traffic, and turnaround logistics, to make a case for Halifax, but for INLAND MOVES from Europe its relatively isolated location may not be the inconvenience it first seems.
At least a partial explanation for the number of shipping containers in use as storage sheds.[8D]
There’s more to this than you may realize. The Arctic ice cap is melting so rapidly that in a few years the fabled year-round Northwest passage may well be available. Ships could take the great circle route from the far East to Europe (and perhaps stop in Halifax along the way). North America would no longer be a barrier and the railroads would no longer figure in the equation. The official US position is that the route north of Canada is entirely in international waters whereas Canada claims the various straits as Canadian territory. Look for this issue to become more public in the future.
Yes, the docks in NJ are stacked with mountains of containers. I see a lot of east bound freights coming into NJ with COSCO containers.
If you haven’t read this months edition of (may I be horsewhipped for saying the following) RAILWAY AGE; one will find that CN is the is the topic of this months feature. The idea of a scheduled railroad, what a novel thought. Making money at running a railroad to becomming a possible investment grade company, prepostrous. Oh what a wonderfull opportunity
At the NS Pittsburgh Intermodal Terminal,containers are received from both east and west coasts. The Harrisburg terminal is presently being used to swap containers amongst cars to continue westward or eastward. There is also a shifter that works the six available ramp tracks and sorts cars into trains. In Pittsburgh, cars are loaded per destination when possible. Eastbound cars are loaded for Dockside,(Newark?),Rutherford/Harrisburg, Morrisville, Croxton, & E-Rail. Sometimes due to the relatively few E-Rails, they are combined with the Rutherfords and trucked into New Jersey. This is preferable to delaying loaded containers for long periods and possibly missing a ship. Westbound cars are loaded first for BNSF,UP, or Chicago proper. The next division comes between BNSF northwest,(Cicero),or southwest,(Corwith) as destinations. The final division for loading is for specific BNSF destinations,(ie; Long Beach,Stockton,Seattle,Portland,etc.). Monday through Friday there is commonly plenty of westbound freight in Pittsburgh to build seperate cars for each destination. Unfortunately there is not a fulltime shifter on duty,so the cars are all mixed up and are shifted in Chicago into individual trains. On weekends there is less freight,so what is loaded is usually mixed together with empty rail trailers and will be sorted out in Chicago. I can only speak for Pittsburgh,but would assume that NS has similar procedures at other terminals. Also,not every container line is handled in Pittsburgh.At present ,only the following are handled:Mearsk-Sealand,Cosco,Evergreen,P&O Nedlloyd,Yang Ming, Hanjin,Zim,China Shipping,Hapag LLoyd,Hyundai,NYK,OOCL, & Mederatanian. APL & Pacer are handled by CSX in Cleveland and trucked into Pittsburgh. Also,as far as why a container comes from the east or west, keep in mind that many steamship companies own or control their own ports. For example,Mearsk-Sealand,(also the largest steamship line in the world),has a dock in Long Beach, I believe docks in New jersey & Virginia. I hope any of this doe
The reason the ports are stacking up with empty containers (we have a client for whom we are looking at this very issue even as we speak) is because the railroads will not carry unloaded ones as a general rule. Only possible exception, if you can talk them into an entire trainload, and then usually not stacked. So the boxes are basically one-shots if they are unloaded in-port, unless you can get a ship to carry them back overseas or to another port. If you need an empty one, you have to dray it, even across country.
Although the facility shown on the Discovery Channel’s show does not load directly to rail, some do. APL’s Global Gateway South (opened May 12, 1997) facility on Terminal Island (Port of L.A., Pier 300) does load directly from ship to train. See “APL Limited’s Global Gateway South” by David C. Crammer in the February 1998 issue of RailNews.
Norfolk Southern also serves direct to ship at the Dockside terminal in New Jersey. As far as the handling of empty containers, NS has never put any restrictions on their shipment to or from Pittsburgh. An empty container is treated as any other unit being moved per the customer’s instructions. The only factors that determine how & when a box moves are; availabilty of appropriate cars, billing, number of loads,(loaded boxes are generaly given priority since it may need to meet a ship), and needs of the customer. As a matter of fact, empty K-Line containers are regularly set-off in Pittsburgh from the east by train 21T, loaded and shipped west on 21Z. The biggest problem with empty containers I have heard is the steamship lines unwillingness to carry them back to Asain loading points. Allegedly it’s cheaper to buy a new Chinese-built box than waste valuble ship space on carrying empties around. I have heard that the empty box storage problem in New Jersey is approaching disastorous proportions. Now I would also like to add the disclaimer that I can only speak for the NS ramps at Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, & Rutherford, and I have no first hand knowledge of other ramp conditions or procedures, but I can assume that other NS ramps work with similar rules. Good luck and stay safe.
Thanks for the numbers Mark. The problem with being on the ground at the point of handling is that it can be hard to see the big picture. Also, it doesn’t help that with the present traffic boom we are doing everthing we can to keep up with loading & unloading. In 2003, Pittsburgh did 75,000 lifts, a record year since opening in its present location and so far, 2004 looks to surpass even that.