21 January 2005

Vancouver box backlog to last 7-10 weeks

The following article is excerpted from the 20 January 2005 edition of “The Journal of Commerce”.

It will take seven to 10 weeks for Vancouver's Deltaport … to clear the backlog of more than 5,000 containers caused by weather and rail-related delays.

"We are encouraged by Canadian National's response to increase the daily car supply," from 11,000 feet to 15,000 feet, Morley Strachan, vice-president of Deltaport operator TSI Terminal Systems Inc., [said]….

"Even with that, it's going to take some time to clear up the backlog," he added. "We think it's going to take seven to 10 weeks….

The terminal operator formally declared force majeure on Tuesday, telling customers it was not liable for delays in moving boxes because CN was not providing enough rail cars to accommodate the crush of freight arriving from Asia, and China, in particular.

At a meeting called by TSI Wednesday that brought together ocean carriers, CN and the Vancouver Port Authority, the railroad announced it would provide more intermodal railcars to the terminal. Strachan said "several methodologies were discussed" for clearing the backlog, but he did not offer details.

Strachan earlier said TSI would propose allocating fixed numbers of rail cars to steamship lines. There also was discussion at the meeting about long-term measures, … but "the focus right now is on implementing some constructive procedures to remove the backlog."

Deltaport, with annual capacity of more than 1 million TEUs, had "reached the point of strangulation" on more volume than the railroad can handle. Canadian National blamed congestion on increased volumes, as well as weather-related delays on its network and in terminal handling.