Quick Links: Transportation

Ocean Shipping:

Ocean cargo/global logistics: Some vessel operators may fade away, say analysts

Drewry’s revised estimate for 2008 global container traffic growth is 152.8 million TEU (twenty-equivalent-units), representing a 7.2 percent year-on-year growth, down from the 8.6 percent they published in their previous September report, with a meager growth of 2.8 percent forecast for 2009.

PierPASS rethinks its gate-closing decision

The OffPeak program was established in 2005 to reduce congestion and air pollution in and around the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. Under the program, all international container terminals in the two ports established five new shifts per week (Monday through Thursday from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.). As an incentive to use the OffPeak shifts and to cover the added cost of the shifts, a Traffic Mitigation Fee (“TMF”) is required for most cargo movement during peak hours (Monday through Friday, 3 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

Volume throughput continues to decline at the nation’s two largest ocean cargo gateways.
Beyond cost-cutting measures that marine terminal operators are already taking individually, the terminal operators are analyzing potential methods of controlling the costs of the OffPeak program, which doubled the number of weekly shifts from five to 10.

Air Cargo

While the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is reporting a 13.5 percent drop in November’s airfreight volume, the figure might be somewhat higher in Southern California, analysts told LM.

“We feel that the decline has been more like 15 percent,” said Guy Fox, president of Guy Fox & Assoc., a Yorba Linda, Calif.-based consulting firm. “Given the slack holiday retail season, it may even be worse.”

Railroads

Railroad shipping: AAR says 2008 is fourth best year on record for railroad volumes

Even with a down economy in 2008, United States railroad volumes for the year were the fourth highest on record behind 2005, 2006, and 2007, according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Commodity breakdown: Motor vehicles and equipment loadings were down 219, 603—or 21.2 percent—at 817,744 for the year. And crushed stone, sand, and gravel loadings were down 95,270—or 8.8 percent. Only grain, metallic ores, coal, and “all other” carloads saw annual increases, according to the AAR.

Trucking

Proposed funding for infrastucture investment falls short, according to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

The House’s proposed tally for transportation infrastructure investments falls well short of the $85 billion suggested by James L. Oberstar, Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee earlier this month. Oberstar’s plan called for: $30 billion for highways and bridges; $12 billion for transit; $5 billion for rail; $5 billion for aviation; $14 billion for environmental infrastructure; $7 billion for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and $10 billion for Federal buildings.