Union Pacific eastbound railway container service temporarily halted to Chicago due to "significant congestion"
By ethanh // 2021-07-20
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A seven-day suspension of Union Pacific freight delivery to Chicago has commenced due to "significant congestion" at inland terminals. According to reports, ocean carriers are backlogged due to logistics problems caused by governments imposing Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions, which in turn has caused delivery trains to get backed up on land. All Union Pacific eastbound service from West Coast port terminals to the Global IV intermodal facility in Chicago are now halted for at least a week, which reports claim will help to get the logistics flow back on track. The suspension applies to all Union Pacific-served terminals, including at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland in California, as well as the port in Tacoma, Wash. As we reported last fall, freight logistics all along the West Coast were decimated by Chinese Virus lockdowns, leaving shipping containers stuck at port. "I have been working in the industry for 30 years and I have never seen anything like this," stated a logistics consultant about the freight backups he was observing at the time. The situation has apparently not been resolved nearly a year later with new reports suggesting that freight will once again sit in West Coast ports with no way to get delivered eastbound. "This week we reached out to the ocean carriers to take more positive steps to improve fluidity and throughput in the Los Angeles Basin and our Global IV facility in Chicago," Union Pacific said in a recent statement. "We believe this change will allow the transportation supply chain to begin working off the backlog of Global IV-destined trains while freeing up railcar assets to support import loading needs on the West Coast." The company further added that it is working closely with ocean carriers and "collaborating wherever possible" to try to "improve the health of the supply chain."

Why is Union Pacific halting all freight movement east?

One would think that with increased demand for shipping due to the American economy largely reopening earlier in the year that Union Pacific would be trying to increase train movement. To the contrary, the company is halting all freight travel for the week instead, which is generating widespread concern among shipping companies about another collapse of the supply chain, especially with the upcoming fall peak. Some shipping containers have been sitting in West Coast ports for months with no end in sight. The excuses given range from ongoing congestion at the ports to chassis, labor, and railcar shortages. Union Pacific recently held a symposium with ocean carriers to determine how to gate out boxes at inland terminals more quickly in order to keep up with demand. One of the solutions adopted by the company involves capping storage fees at the Global IV facility for loaded units that are stacked and waiting to go. This will supposedly help ocean carriers and drayage companies get up to speed and allow for Union Pacific to fully open its Global III facility as an interim import container storage location. "We believe these positive steps will alleviate some of the considerable challenges supply chain participants are facing," the company says about the move. Much like the inflation situation, we were told last year that such problems were merely "transitory" and that things would be resolved once China Joe had a bit of time in office to fix things. That, of course, has not happened, and the situation is worsening. "Too few crews, locomotives, and rolling stock to keep deliveries going," wrote one commenter at Freight Waves. "But hey, look at the operating ratio and happy hedge funds." To learn more about how the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) is a cover story for the controlled demolition of the global economy, visit FalseFlag.news. Sources for this article include: FreightWaves.com NaturalNews.com
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