It's not just steamship lines charging fuel surcharge

We forget that railroads in the U.S. are still somewhat regulated.

They have been charging fuel surcharges, but now customers are questioning if these are justified.

Some shippers want to shake things up even more. A collection of mostly small customers is taking on the rail industry’s fuel surcharges in a federal court case seeking class-action status. That case entered its evidence discovery phase as 2008 ended, so 2009 could be a crucial year of judgment on railroads’ fuel fees.

I find it a bit surprising the FMC isn't looking into bunker adjustment factors being charged by ocean carriers. After all, some people think the FMC should be abolished, and one would think they want to demonstrate they have a reason to exist.

The BBC Box arrived New Jersey Dec. 9

The BBC Box has arrived in Jersey City, NJ.

NYKU8210506 arrived Jersey City, NJ on December 09, 2008

I don't know if this is where it will be removed from the flat car, but I presume so.

I was wrong about when the container would arrive in New Jersey, and at what destination.

My guess was it wouldn't arrive until Dec. 12th or later. The actual transit was much faster - 5 days. Pretty good considering all the stops.



For non-Americans (or, probably more so, we Americans) who want to figure out the route, here are the state codes
CA - California
AZ - Arizona
NM - New Mexico
TX - Texas
KS - Kansas
IL - Illinois
PA - Pennsylvania
NJ - New Jersey


Status As Of Event Location Mode
DEC-09-2008 12:13 Arrived at destination rail terminal Jersey City, NJ, USA Rail


Moves to Date Event Location Mode
DEC-09-2008 05:20 Rail departure Harrisburg, PA, USA Rail
DEC-08-2008 21:20 Rail departure Pittsburgh, PA, USA Rail
DEC-08-2008 01:30 Rail departure Chicago, IL, USA Rail
DEC-08-2008 00:37 Rail departure Chicago, IL, USA Rail
DEC-07-2008 08:00 Rail departure Kansas City, KS, USA Rail
DEC-06-2008 23:38 Rail departure Wellington, KS, USA Rail
DEC-06-2008 17:30 Rail departure Amarillo, TX, USA Rail
DEC-06-2008 14:10 Rail departure Clovis, NM, USA Rail
DEC-06-2008 07:56 Rail departure Belen, NM, USA Rail
DEC-05-2008 19:01 Rail departure Winslow, AZ, USA Rail
DEC-05-2008 08:05 Rail departure Needles, CA, USA Rail
DEC-05-2008 03:29 Rail departure Barstow, CA, USA Rail
DEC-04-2008 22:48 Departed from origin rail terminal Los Angeles, CA, USA Rail

This is from the NYK tracking site, but the site has been modified and all the info is way down at the bottom (I had to look 3 times to find it).

The Box changed trains in Wellington, Kansas, which is only 20 miles from where I live. But it passed through close to midnight, so I wouldn't have seen it, even if I had been in the area.


According to the BBC site as of Dec. 9, The Box is still in California. Trust me, it's not.

U.S. Rail shipments drop

Traffic World publishes an article tomorrow detailing the big drop in rail shipments.

Bulk commodity and equipment cargoes carried in large-capacity railcars fell 8.4 percent from a year earlier for major U.S. carriers in the week that ended Nov. 8, said the Association of American Railroads.

That is only one week, but it follows a 5.4 percent year-on-year drop the week before and 4.7 percent before that. The carload decline has only escalated since the September financial crisis began rippling through the overall economy.

Bulk cargoes almost always move by rail. That has been the traditional rail cargo.

Railroads also carry trucks, or containers. That is called intermodal. This too has slipped.

A similar trend is at work on the intermodal side, where rail lines handle the long haul for highway trailers or containers that trucks carry from rail terminal to final destination.

The AAR said those U.S. rail lines saw intermodal loadings shrink 6.3 percent in the latest week, 4.9 percent as of Nov. 1 and 4.1 percent for the week ended Oct. 25.

There is no mention if truck traffic dipped during the same period. With the price of gas going down, it's possible some of this business switched back to over the road.

Proposed new West Coast Mexican Port

There was an interesting article in the American Shipper last week about a new port planned for Punta Colonet on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. This could be a really big deal considering the costs of discharging containers in the U.S. with Union Labor is probably 3 -5 times more than what can be done in Mexico, not to mention the new restrictions being imposed on the carriers with air quality emissions etc.

The article talks mainly about how it will compete with the Southern California ports as of course most of the cargo discharged in Southern California does not stay there. The big sticking point is getting the rail connections from Mexico to other points in the U.S.


"Regardless of who wins the contracts, any potential bidder will have to negotiate with U.S. rail giants Union Pacific or BNSF, which control the mainline tracks running through the U.S. Southwest. UP had originally been a potential bidder, but pulled out of a proposed partnership with Hutchison last May. On breaking the Hutchison partnership, UP indicated it was still open to bidding with another partner on the Colonet project. U.S. West Coast ports handle more than 60 percent of the Asia-to-Atlantic Coast cargo, with the all-water route through the Panama Canal capturing another 38 percent. Last year, the Canadian port of Prince Rupert also began operations, offering a direct rail connection for cargo from the Canadian Pacific Coast to Chicago in about 100 hours. In addition, the Panama Canal, set to open a new set of larger locks in 2014, expects to capture up to half of the Asia-to-Atlantic Coast traffic by 2025. "

This last comment got me to thinking. Would it be possible for Mexico to build a railroad across THEIR country, to compete with the Panama Canal?

I wonder if "Field of Dreams" was translated into Spanish.