Thanks to the unprecedented global pandemic and its impact on the demand for physical goods over the past year and a half, supply chain issues have become mainstream front page news, with the International Chamber of Shipping issuing an open letter to the United Nations that warns of a "system collapse" across the world.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday echoed that fear, announcing that the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would shift to 24/7 operation along with some major carriers and retailers to expedite the clearing of bottlenecks, but port professionals' views of the issues suggest the efforts may well miss the mark.
As of late September, the U.S. had a reported 170 ships waiting to unload in its ports, then setting a new record, and it's continued to be an issue. Some ships have been required to drift unanchored off-shore as good spots for anchoring dwindle like too few truck parking spaces off a major highway.
Now the ports are where the traffic jam at sea extends into the traffic jams on land, and where the containers so vital to the intermodal industry begin their journey. From freight-platform operators to small fleet owners, owner-ops and company drivers, Overdrive spoke to men and women of the intermodal segment to get a look at what's going on at our nation's ports and railyards for this series, part of our occasional "Niche Hauls" series of close looks at various freight segments where owner-operators are in demand.
Trucking in the intermodal niche is like trucking everywhere to some degree -- common problems for those hauling into and out of U.S. ports and rail yards include trouble sourcing parts, for small fleet owners recruiting and holding on to drivers, and other well-known difficulties. On the flipside, and also just like most other truckload niches, there's high demand for intermodal haulers, with plenty work to be done and money to be made.
Nimesh Modi, CEO of Bookyourcargo.com, a shipping and drayage freight-forwarding platform, said that at ports across California, he sees headaches getting worse before they get better, and it's the boom in ecommerce and demand for physical goods that's pulled the supply chain past the breaking point.
"We move containers from ports to customer locations and vice versa. We’re an unavoidable but neglected part of the supply chain. Nobody wants to build it, but everyone has to use it," said Modi of his port drayage corner of the supply chain.
