“Vancouver is still clearing a three-week backlog of containers that are awaiting rail transit,” said Paul Brashier, Vice President of Global Supply Chain for ITS Logistics, which provides drayage and intermodal services in 22 coastal ports and 30 rail ramps throughout North America. “The Lunar New Year rush, a November port strike that has now come to an end, and lack of rail equipment are contributing to the Vancouver terminal challenges. U.S. West Coast port and rail ramp operations will remain at an elevated status, and there are still concerns that there may be an increase in transpacific inventory front-loading throughout the month. This is in addition to Western Canada port and rail issues.”
The Port of Vancouver, operators say, is on course to clear congestion by next month, but this plan could change because of new tariffs, according to ITS Logistics. Due to the uncertainty of what these tariff increases could mean for the industry and overall economy, it added, retailers have continued to front-load their imports, as noted by the National Retail Federation (NRF). The previously expected East Coast port strike also played a role in companies choosing to increase volume, ITS Logistics said.
The Global Port Tracker reported an increase in volumes this fall, confirming that November’s container imports increased by 14.7% over a year earlier while being slightly down from October (3%), according to ITS Logistics. “As a result of the official November TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) volume consisting of 2.17 million containers (excluding finalized numbers from the Port of New York and New Jersey) and projected December volume being over its forecast by 19%, equating to 2.24 million TEUs, the NRF raised its forecast for the full year 2024,” the firm reported. “Due to the ongoing rush, the NRF expected the year to total 25.6 million TEUs, with the momentum lasting through the first part of 2025. Overall, the NRF is calling for a 10% year-over-year increase in January and March. On the contrary, February is expected to fall on the softer side because of the Lunar New Year timing this year.”
Brashier recommended that shippers “prepare for the potential of a front-loading event similar to 2018, impacting transpacific trade lanes from Asia into North America—regardless of origin—as front-loading bottlenecks at the same entry point ports.” He added that industry professionals “should expect exports to be negatively impacted as well due to equipment imbalance and these possible retaliatory tariffs.”
ITS Logistics each month releases the ITS Logistics U.S. Port/Rail Ramp Freight Index, which forecasts port container and dray operations for the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf regions. Ocean and domestic container rail ramp operations are also highlighted in the index for both the West Inland and East Inland regions.
Further Reading:
- ITS Logistics Releases Supply Chain Report
- ITS Logistics: U.S. West Coast Ports Experience ‘Significant Import Volumes Amid Fears of January ILA Strike’
- ITS Logistics: Container Traffic Entering West Coast, Current Vancouver Strike ‘Add Strain’ to U.S. Supply Chain
- ITS Logistics: Potential ILA Strike Fuels Peak-Season ‘Uncertainty’
- ITS Logistics: Threatened Trump Tariff Actions ‘Very Likely Inflationary’
- ITS Logistics Releases July Port/Rail Ramp Index
