USA Export Loads and Weekly Shipping Update

The current surge on the Transpacific trade inbound from Asia is not only impacting import loads (see previous post here), but also export moves.  The US Agricultural Transport Coalition recently held a workshop on complaints they are receiving from American exporters about shipping lines refusing or rolling bookings, and changing receiving windows at ports, mostly the US West Coast (Oakland, Los Angeles/Long Beach, Seattle).  While we don’t go to the same extreme in calling it an export embargo, US exporters are facing more challenges as carriers prioritize moving empty containers back to Asia over loaded export boxes. 

For shippers of bulk wines and bottled wines or spirits, which are heavier than other commodities, we are seeing increased restrictions from the carriers on tonnage weight and the same challenges of changing receiving windows and delays.

Recommendations:

Hillebrand as our freight forwarding partner is working to find solutions to minimize the disruption for our members wherever possible.  To improve outcomes, we encourage the following:

• Work with your local offices to provide advance notice on bookings to secure capacity and vessel allocation.
• Adjust lead times and spacing of booking to give the most flexibility on available services (transit times) and shipping volumes per week.

Spain – Bilbao Strike Continues and Valencia strike threat cancelled  

The ongoing strike actions and reduce work hours at the Port of Bilbao continue to impact port operations, vessel calls, and container movements.  If there is good news, at least a potential strike for Valencia has been called off as this certainly would not help the current challenges on exporting freight out of the country.  For assistance with pending loads, please contact your Hillebrand representative. 

Reefer equipment out of France and chassis equipment at US ports are likely to continue throughout the peak shipping season.  More information here.  

Should you have any questions or need more information please contact your Hillebrand representative.  You can also manage pending shipments, pickups, invoices, set up alerts and more on myHillebrand.