News / US east coast carriers and rail operators introduce pre-strike restrictions

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With just a week before an increasingly probable US east and Gulf coast port strike, carriers have been laying out contingency plans, including pre-emptively halting inland cargo movement and congestion-related surcharges.

Maersk said it would implement a ‘local port disruption surcharge’ for all cargo moving to and from the US east and Gulf coast terminals from 21 October, “depending on the impact of the disruption to the supply chain”, of $1,500 per teu and $3,000 per feu.

“This surcharge is necessary to cover the higher operational costs that will be incurred due to the service disruptions,” explained the Danish carrier.

From 19 October, Hapag-Lloyd will implement a Work Interruption Destination Surcharge (WID) for imports to the US east and Gulf coast from East Asia and a Work Disruption Surcharge (WDS) on cargo from the rest of the world on 18 October, both at $1,000 per teu.

CMA CGM’s 11 October surcharge will be $800 per teu and $1,000 per feu for all exports from east and Gulf coast ports, and an import surcharge of $1,500 per teu. It will also add a peak season surcharge of $1,000 per unit to imports from the Indian Subcontinent and Middle East on 1 November, postponed from 1 October.

Japanese carrier ONE has yet to announce surcharges, but warned that booking adjustments, including rollovers to other vessels or cancellations, may be needed from this week.

North American intermodal operator CSX said in the event of a strike it would “work port by port to take traffic… as long as [it] can safely access the terminal” and would accept imports “up until the port goes on strike”.

However, yesterday it halted Canadian exports via the interchange it operates with Canadian National until further notice, explaining that cargo en route would not be accessible if it was stuck on the rails.

Maersk also noted that terminals’ ability to monitor reefer containers would be impacted during a strike and encouraged exporters to “plan accordingly” to avoid damage to temperature-controlled cargo.

ONE, similarly, encouraged customers to pick up their import cargo prior to 30 September, advising that “reefers might not be monitored while ports are closed”.

The Japanese carrier will pause acceptance of US reefer export bookings for vessels departing on or after 1 October, and Hapag-Lloyd will not accept refrigerated reservations at its inland terminals after tomorrow.

Hapag will stop loading east coast export traffic from 29 September and will hold all already booked traffic at its inland terminals between 30 September and 1 October.

“On 1 October we will reassess if reservations need to be cancelled,” it said. “Our main goal is to accept traffic as long as possible, but also be careful not to put reefer traffic at risk.  Holding export units at origin is to avoid having any freight sit outside a terminal and subject the loaded freight to vandalism.”

Sara Dandan, founder of detention, demurrage and maritime dispute company FourOneOne, told The Loadstar: “I feel like any freight forwarder worth their salt has contingencies in place to mitigate any issues caused by a strike at these ports.

“I think we’ve all been given so much warning that most shippers and forwarders have alternative plans and routes in place – or at least they should,” she concluded.