Western Railroad Discussion > Port of LGB-LA and Panama Canal

Yesterday there were 11 ships at anchor for the Port of LGB_LA compared to 22 last Monday. All berths were full and ships working.  

The Panama Canal has been backed up for the past week with 19 ships waiting to traverse the canal--9 Atlantic side and 10 Pacific side.

The Canal has not stated what the reason for the backup, however they have reduced to one the appointment times thru the Canal this place havoc with ship schedules.  Appointment time were used in the past to reduce congestion and allowed steamship lines to plan the movement of vessels thru the canal--now they are back to first come first serve at the canal's choice

Above from Journal of Commerce  3-31-15

Dale Smith

Good choice for the chinese to build a new canal in Nicaguaga

Posted from iPhone

By the time the ships pass through the canal and unload in an American port, the containers from the west coast will already be on the east coast and unloaded.

Delays in Panama have been on going for years I understand. 10 ships on each side is the norm I understand.

syscom3 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By the time the ships pass through the canal and
> unload in an American port, the containers from
> the west coast will already be on the east coast
> and unloaded.

I believe that the land bridge has always been faster, just not cheaper.

Panama canal is no more backed up than usual and not ever berth in Long Beach or Los Angeles are in use . There is as would be expected these days a shortage of suitable berths and manpower to service the ridicoulusly large vessels that call these days bearing in mind they are also turnaround ports which require many lifts more than just a port of call. Also ground transportation will be at a premium right now as will ground storage . The backlog seems to be moving a little faster but it does seem strange to see three large Maersk M class vessels anchored and waiting.
Andy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 19:18 by westernking.

I would also like to see figures showing the actual amount of land bridge traffic as opposed to boxes destined to US customers.
Andy

westernking Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would also like to see figures showing the
> actual amount of land bridge traffic as opposed to
> boxes destined to US customers.
> Andy


Best I can tell, "land bridging" containers these days is minimal if virtually non-existent. 

-Tom

CPRR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good choice for the chinese to build a new canal
> in Nicaguaga
>
> Posted from iPhone

And the Chinese will quickly find out why the canal was built in Panama. Mountains...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 20:54 by PHall.

mearsksealand Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yesterday there were 11 ships at anchor for the
> Port of LGB_LA compared to 22 last Monday. All
> berths were full and ships working.  
>
> The Panama Canal has been backed up for the past
> week with 19 ships waiting to traverse the
> canal--9 Atlantic side and 10 Pacific side.
>
> The Canal has not stated what the reason for the
> backup, however they have reduced to one the
> appointment times thru the Canal this place havoc
> with ship schedules.  Appointment time were used
> in the past to reduce congestion and allowed
> steamship lines to plan the movement of vessels
> thru the canal--now they are back to first come
> first serve at the canal's choice
>
> Above from Journal of Commerce  3-31-15
>
> Dale Smith

Journal of Commerce ...is like the enquirer of the transport world it sensationalises everything and always seems so anti /US ports!

When I was in Panama in January they said the current wait time was about 24 hours to get a slot through the canal.  At busy times it could get up to 72 hours.  They do require the largest ships to transit in daylight hours and they fleet them.  Smaller ships transit at night and they go both ways at night.

OliveHeights Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I was in Panama in January they said the
> current wait time was about 24 hours to get a slot
> through the canal.  At busy times it could get up
> to 72 hours.  They do require the largest ships
> to transit in daylight hours and they fleet them.
>  Smaller ships transit at night and they go both
> ways at night.

That was true in February of 2014 as well.

FWIW, I suspect the disruptions of the US west coast ports put many ships out of their regular sequence and port schedules over the last few months.