Global Shipping Updates
US Rail Labor Update – Congressional Action underway
Congress is voting on legislation to intervene on a potential rail strike. A bill has passed the House today and will move to the Senate. If Congress agrees to enact legislation, this would eliminate a legal rail strike; workers could still organize a walkout but could be replaced or ordered back through an injunction process.
The situation is still evolving, but you can read today’s article in Freight Waves here.
Local office early closing for holiday events
Our shipping partner’s offices in California and Texas will be closing mid-day (local time) on Dec 1, 2022 for a holiday event. This will affect bulk wine operations, export operations, California domestic warehouse, and regional sales members.
The New Jersey office will be closing early at noon local time on Dec 8, 2022 for a holiday event. This will affect import and domestic operations, customs, finance and regional sales division.
We encourage members to view shipment updates, submit order readiness details, request quotes, process invoices, set up reports or order notifications at any time on the customer portal myHillebrand.
UK Rail Strikes for December
The UK Rail network (RMT union) has announced further planned industrial action on the following dates: December 13-14, 2022, Dec 16-17, 2022, Jan 3-4, 2023, Jan 6-7, 2023. In addition there will be an overtime ban from Sunday Dec 18, 2022 to Jan 4, 2023.
Teams are working to provide alternative road solutions for pending orders, but plan for additional delays and associated costs for shipments and container movements in this region.
New Zealand / South Island Transport Delays
Transit for shipments originating in New Zealand’s South Island continues to see delays and additional costs. While repairs are underway on the main highway between Nelson and Blenheim, traffic must be re-routed adding longer transit times, reducing total trucking capacity and reducing the availability of container resupply.
Plan for continued delays for packing, fitting and trucking from this area until mid-first quarter 2023.
Chile / National Truckers Strike
Positive news – both the stevedore strike at DP World Terminal at San Antonio and the national trucking strike that led to intermittent blockages have ended. Prepare for some residual delays in container movements.
US West Coast Port Negotiations Continue
While longshoremen continue to operate without a contract, we are seeing some intermittent disruptions over labor issues in Oakland. Because contract provisions for arbitration over local issues are not in place during this time, even small disputes can disrupt shifts and lead to terminal closures. In Oakland there were partial closures over labor issues on November 2 and again on November 14, 2022.
We will continue to update on our ports disruption page here.