The flow of containers from Asia is likely to get more expensive. In a stroke of China’s central government’s pen, they have cut off scrap exports from the USA. Since more containers leave the US loaded with low-value commodities like scrap paper than come from Asia loaded with TV sets, expect pricing to increase as the “in and out” adjust to a new equilibrium.
It is being called the perfect storm, but painful shortages of trucks have so far failed to materialize. Based on the data I shared from JB Hunt, I suspect that trucking companies are offering more money to drivers, and that cost will eventually be passed onto shippers.
CSX seems to be getting its crap together – but it had to meet with the Surface Transportation Safety Board and face criticism like this “CSX customer service was so unresponsive and uninformed; [we] have been unable to tell their own customers when delayed shipments might be delivered. Some service problems have been so extreme that company sites and customer facilities have been forced to shut down operations.” The Board was urged to require reciprocal switching. Basically, this means one railroad has to allow another to use its tracks to go into the shipper’s siding. This works in Canada – why not here to inject competition?
