Freight Waves reports of an article by Lidia Yan, CEO at NEXT Trucking, where in she explains the causes of port congestion and tactics to improve efficiency.
Increasing Port congestion
During the release of Evergiven A container ship on the Suez Canal in March caused the biggest headache in the harbor congestion. The Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two largest gateways to US imports, have been hit by unusual levels of congestion in recent months, with nearly 40 freighters anchored for an average of 7.5 days, waiting for berths to safely and reliably load and unload cargo.
Due to this bottleneck, the carrier had to fix or use a nearby drift zone for the first time. Since 2004 To redirect maritime traffic to an adjacent port. In fact, some terminal operators have completely refused to berth the ship due to lack of space for the unloaded containers.
A large number of containers are arriving at Los Angeles Harbor, one of North America’s leading ports, causing great disruption to the organization and the entire global supply chain.
For example, the average dwell time of a container / chassis is 3-7 days Nowhere is the release from the mounting bottleneck visible. The port processed a record 799,315 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) in February 2021. 47% increase From February 2020, when world trade has almost stopped.
The surge in imports caused by unprecedented US consumer demand marks the highest February record in the port’s 114-year history, more than 10% above February 2018.
Trade imbalances and supply chains
Imports and shipments are the highest ever, and many US warehouses and shipping yards are wobbling with maximum capacity to manage large cargo inflows.
Los Angeles Harbor Close monitoring This imbalanced ratio of loaded imports and exports reaches 4:1 and is the highest level ever recorded. Exports have fallen by 26 of the last 28 months, and the number of empty containers has tripled the amount of loaded exports leaving the dock.
Rather than waiting for this import-export trade imbalance to be addressed at the national level, the shipping industry uses modern technology to mitigate the problems of some common shippers and carriers. By doing so, you can take action now.
AI solutions
AI solutions help shippers find quickly pattern It provides valuable insights and a better roadmap for improving the efficiency of product movement in the logistics supply chain that human managers may miss.
Automatic scheduling takes this one step further. AI scheduling tools help to handle factors such as risky containers, dangerous goods regulations, and other concerns so that cargo can be processed at the port with little problem before it arrives. ..
In addition, these solutions can quickly adapt to changing port destination conditions on a daily basis, such as fluctuating terminal congestion levels and chassis shortages.
Shippers and carriers can also use roadboards or digital marketplaces to connect with freight brokers and find more efficient ways to keep their packages moving.
For shippers, new tools such as digital shipment tracking allow companies to track the route from ship to dismissal of cargo, improving communication and improving their ability to anticipate and correct transportation problems. ..
Tackling import surge and port congestion
There is more than one cause of port congestion, but the ongoing pressure of the pandemic is actually affecting it.
First, the obligation of social distance to prevent the spread of COVID-19 contributed to a direct decline in port productivity. This created a bottleneck in the loading dock and delayed the unloading of the container.
In fact, the inability to move cargo at normal speeds affects the entire system, and delays in warehouses and shipping yards affect chassis availability and container relocation throughout the supply chain.
Carriers are urging port workers to quickly unload and release containers, but many containers are idle and re-introduced to other parts of the world due to the full warehouse and lack of space for containers. The placement is delayed.
Another bottleneck in systems that are already tense is finding people to move containers in warehouses and truck drivers. Parliamentary EDL mandates and tariff wars between the United States and China have triggered Shortage of drivers Increased log jams and exacerbated port congestion.
Need for proper communication
Communication is important to alleviate safety concerns and improve the ability of drivers to transport goods efficiently.
Digital solutions such as mobile apps and real-time container tracking can be easily incorporated into drivers and carriers, making safety changes immediately available. Margins of unavoidable bottlenecks are reduced if drivers have quick access to assistance in relation to COVID concerns, as well as changes in prices and profits, and viewing the status of packages and containers.
Automation and digital solutions can also help dispatch these drivers.
Using AI solutions and digital communication tools, dispatchers collect and relay local knowledge to address technical concerns such as chassis pools, interoperability, dangerous goods and driver’s license status at terminals. You can prepare the equipment to do it.
The pandemic timeline, including the slowdown and resumption of the economy, has changed across borders.
The overseas markets of most Asian countries were able to reopen ahead of the virus, allowing manufacturing to surge and buy more imports.
Meanwhile, other countries are now overwhelmed by customer orders, needing to push inventories into distribution centers, causing additional port congestion and increasing pressure across the supply chain.
TraPac At the Los Angeles terminal, automated port technology is helping to relieve some of that pressure. By using an AI-powered transportation system, container stacking operations have been improved, yard spaces have been reorganized, and a safer environment for employees has been created.
In addition, by improving the complex system of container organization, TraPac is leveraging technology for cost savings.
New consumer behavior
Finally, consumer behavior is changing in this current pandemic-affected e-commerce environment.
Since the beginning of the quarantine, e-commerce has been booming as people have been unable to go out and spend their money directly. Instead, people changed their buying behavior and spent a lot of time ordering household items, home improvement products, and even electronics and medical devices online.
Many shippers report that the amount triples (or more) each month. This increases the waiting time for carriers and drivers and creates port congestion problems.
Drivers feel supported by their role and need efficient communication to effectively respond to onslaught of demand.
Rather than using traditional methods such as calling for information sharing on pen or paper, reliable and effective access to packages and container numbers in digital format will enable more accurate relaying of information.
Digital tools for faster communication
Transparent digital tools allow shippers and carriers to more quickly communicate and explain last-minute changes such as gate closures, terminal issues, and unexpected waiting times.
A driver-independent owner-operator can select preferred routes and packages and have immediate access to changes in carrying out the transportation of those packages, reducing the demand burden felt by the driver responsible for the transportation of those goods.
Rather than waiting for a national-level solution to trade imbalances and surges in demand, shippers and carriers now need to act to modernize operations throughout their supply chains.
By doing so, companies will have the tools to overcome this crisis and ultimately succeed beyond the spillover of a pandemic. This may continue for the next few years.
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Source: Freight Waves
