The Union Pacific Railroad (UP) is stacking containers in Chicago and Dallas, which is the opposite of normal. Before the driver visits the terminal, all boxes are placed on the chassis. Because the chassis stays longer, it is not balanced with the railcars in the West Coast port, but it believes that the situation will return to normal within a few weeks.

recent months have seen an increase in the amount of time spent on shipping containers in the interior of the United States, and a decline in the availability of rail equipment and chassis.

Congestion has been a problem inland, with containers piling up due to chassis shortages in Chicago, Dallas, Memphis and Kansas City as importers grapple with inventory clogging up warehouses. With many warehouses already full, shippers are in no hurry to retrieve new cargo in containers at inland hubs.

While congestion is beginning to ease in some inland markets as canceled orders cause a significant drop in shipments arriving in Southern California, it's not everywhere. UP's Global IV terminal in Jollett, Illinois, was operating normally until the end of September, but conditions have deteriorated since early October.

container liner companies and terminals have repeatedly accused importers of depressing containers longer than usual due to insufficient warehouse capacity, and they have also proposed reasonable container demurrage charges to speed up container transportation.

"Dallas has been experiencing ongoing chassis issues due to increased chassis street cycle times, which are nearly four times longer than normal," UP said. "TRAC Intermodal said they are moving the chassis into the Dallas market to help, and that, coupled with the growing westbound vacant market, may solve the challenge next month.

"I am very optimistic that we will recover everything and return to a precarious situation by mid-to-late December," TRAC said.

Forwardernet.com