October 5, 2018 – A convergence of factors, including high import volumes, peak season traffic, weather and on-dock projects, has been creating increased dwell times at Port of Vancouver. The recent typhoon in Asia caused vessel delays and vessel bunching. The Port of Shanghai has reportedly been experiencing a great deal of congestion, leading to vessel delays. It is expected that the period of Golden Week in China will provide some catch-up time for the terminals. Centerm has reported over 100% yard congestion and they are receiving new vessel cargo every shift. According to the terminal, this makes it difficult to target the longest dwell blocks on dock and any ERS containers. They are still forced to load specific blocks in order to accommodate new vessel cargo and must avoid current vessel operations. Centerm said it is loading the longest dwell and priority cargo as much as possible but it’s difficult to provide an estimate on exactly when a container will load. Deltaport’s Intermodal Yard Reconfiguration Project has had some impact on rail production, with the railways trucking additional footage to Vancouver Intermodal Terminal. However, ground counts on Thursday were down, with an average dwell of 4 days. Conditions are as expected for peak season volumes. From mid-October onward, conditions are expected to improve. CN and CP have also released comprehensive winter plans for dealing with weather and operational delays. We will continue to keep our customers updated. Source: CIFFA