Rail Gridlock Takes Toll Booming U.S. Economy Compounds Problems For Shippers Nationwide

Too much, too fast, too soon.

Though the country’s economic ship has come in, the real ones are stuck out of port.

In Los Angeles, the barges can’t get the dock time they need to drop off cargo from Asia. When the ships do get in, the exports often aren’t there for them to take away. They’re stuck on a train or in storage in another state.

“We’re victims of our own prosperity,” said Jonathan Schlueter, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Grain and Feed Association Inc. “There’s not enough hopper cars, not enough locomotives, not enough crews and not enough track.”

Part of the trouble comes from rail carrier Union Pacific. After a $5.4 billion merger with Southern Pacific in 1996, the rail company got off track with railcar shortages and service problems. This year the carrier is up to eight weeks behind in filling orders for hopper cars.

Further slowing the system were shipping demands of a record soybean harvest and a near-record corn crop that need to be shipped from the Midwest.

In response, the Surface Transportation Board of the U.S. Department of Transportation has directed UP/ SP to open its lines to other carriers in South Texas, where the shipping problems are at their worst. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture is holding public hearings in the Midwest to determine the effect on agricultural shippers.

“We hope that the emergency action the STB took in the South Texas area begins to alleviate some of the serious car shortage and railroad service problems in the major grain producing areas of the Midwest which have led to grain storage problems,” Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said this week. The USDA is also offering special loan programs to farmers who can’t get grains to ports.

Also slowing the movement of goods is the clog of ships and shortage of workers at several California harbors. Major South Korean shipping company Hanjin is dealing with it by changing its order of ports of call to start in Portland instead of Southern California.

“That’s a positive for us,” said Aaron Ellis, spokesman for the Port of Portland. “It’s great to be the first port of call from the Far East.”

Similar changes may occur at the Port of Seattle.

“Goods maybe originally destined for Los Angeles may have to be shifted here,” said Mike Merritt, spokesman for the Port of Seattle Marine Division.

But those changes may still be a few months off, the port spokesman said. “It takes time to make these arrangements.”

While Pacific Northwest ports claim they can handle an increase in ship traffic, they too are suffering from the lack of train cars. “There have been some spot bottlenecks at some of our terminals because of the equipment shortages,” Merritt said.

The Port of Portland and several ports along the Columbia River handle most grain shipments from the region; Seattle and Tacoma’s ports see manufactured goods. In all cases, this time of year is one of the busiest for the ports.

“The goods that will be sold on shelves at Christmas usually come through now,” said Merritt.

And now is the time when grains are heading through the Northwest to Asia. “Last year, 23 percent of all U.S. grain exports was shipped through Northwest terminals,” said Schlueter. “We have to logistically line up or coordinate the vessels with the trains and the buyer’s expectations. It sounds good on paper, but the bottom line is this year it’s not working.”

, DataTimes