https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-class-i-railroads-to-feds-dont-blame-us
Claim container mess is not rails fault.
Sounds about right. The BNSF may be going to charge storage fees if consignees do not pick up their loads. Driver shortage may be a significant part of the issue.
Photos of the yards confirms that BNSF took two tracks out of servoice just to store the loads they have received. Don't have info about other RR's.
charlie hebdohttps://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-class-i-railroads-to-feds-dont-blame-us Claim container mess is not rails fault.
The traditional circular finger pointing at all the other elements of the supply chain. The reality is that all those pointing fingers are right - everybody is responsible and nobody has clean hands.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Volumes seem to be dropping off now.. that should help free up some capacity.
UlrichVolumes seem to be dropping off now.. that should help free up some capacity.
Better lay off some people!
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
zugmann Ulrich Volumes seem to be dropping off now.. that should help free up some capacity. Better lay off some people!
Ulrich Volumes seem to be dropping off now.. that should help free up some capacity.
No.. much better to take on secondary business if needed..
BaltACD charlie hebdo https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-class-i-railroads-to-feds-dont-blame-us Claim container mess is not rails fault. The traditional circular finger pointing at all the other elements of the supply chain. The reality is that all those pointing fingers are right - everybody is responsible and nobody has clean hands.
charlie hebdo https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-class-i-railroads-to-feds-dont-blame-us Claim container mess is not rails fault.
Exactly!!! Vendors in Asia have been stop and start since Covid broke out last year. Inventories in the US were depleted as everyone sitting at home ordered on line. Container shipping companies found themselves with too many shipments and started rolling cargo. Add in a shortage of ocean containers. Ships arriving on US west coast can't unload. Railroads can't handle all the containers and initially don't want to reposition empty equipment. Containers arrive rail terminals in the Midwest and customer can't take them immediately because of a trucker shortage and, possibly, because shipments have become "bunched" and are arriving in greater volume than he or she can handle.
Balt is spot on; this is a supply chain cluster and no ones hands are clean.
CW
It's almost as if no one has ever seen a pandemic before.. most are dealing with its repercussions for the first time with no play book to follow. Lots of moving parts. No clean hands implies we are all caught of guard.. I guess so.
UlrichIt's almost as if no one has ever seen a pandemic before.. most are dealing with its repercussions for the first time with no play book to follow. Lots of moving parts. No clean hands implies we are all caught of guard.. I guess so.
They followed the playbook. It simply said "run as lean as operation as possible with no slack for any eventuality."
Shortage of truck drivers: I'm glad the railroads aren't making the same mistakes the trucking industr....... hmmmmm.
zugmann Ulrich It's almost as if no one has ever seen a pandemic before.. most are dealing with its repercussions for the first time with no play book to follow. Lots of moving parts. No clean hands implies we are all caught of guard.. I guess so. They followed the playbook. It simply said "run as lean as operation as possible with no slack for any eventuality." Shortage of truck drivers: I'm glad the railroads aren't making the same mistakes the trucking industr....... hmmmmm.
Ulrich It's almost as if no one has ever seen a pandemic before.. most are dealing with its repercussions for the first time with no play book to follow. Lots of moving parts. No clean hands implies we are all caught of guard.. I guess so.
Thank rampant consumerism for that.. we all want low prices at the store. That's really where it all starts. Heaven fordid we all live in smaller homes with less stuff.
UlrichThank rampant consumerism for that.. we all want low prices at the store. That's really where it all starts. Heaven fordid we all live in smaller homes with less stuff.
I don't buy it. Sorry.
Nonetheless consumers call the shots.. at least the inital salvo. Its why those scarce hard to find drivers haul trees from Oregon to Ontario and Quebec in December..superfluous transportation demand brought to you by Joe and Jane Consumer.
Even without the stupid short term panic, they'd still be short.
I don’t think any part of the supply chain is to blame. Our Country shut down for a year and then opened back up (maybe), and so we have a surge of imports to make up for what was suppressed during the shutdown. So the surge overwhelms the supply chain. The supply chain cannot be built with enough over-capacity to handle such a large surge. It would not be cost effective to build in such large and normally unnecessary over-capacity. Shutting down the Country was a radical move, and so it produced a radical result. This is probably just the first chapter of that result.
Euclid I don’t think any part of the supply chain is to blame. Our Country shut down for a year and then opened back up (maybe), and so we have a surge of imports to make up for what was suppressed during the shutdown. So the surge overwhelms the supply chain. The supply chain cannot be built with enough over-capacity to handle such a large surge. It would not be cost effective to build in such large and normally unnecessary over-capacity. Shutting down the Country was a radical move, and so it produced a radical result. This is probably just the first chapter of that result.
That's pretty much it..
In transportation you can't cut your way to growth.
BaltACD In transportation you can't cut your way to growth.
True, but these days there's less room than ever for underutilized capacity that is held in reserve for a rainy pandemic. We all want our pots and pans from China at low low prices..pandemic or not.
Ulrich BaltACD In transportation you can't cut your way to growth. True, but these days there's less room than ever for underutilized capacity that is held in reserve for a rainy pandemic. We all want our pots and pans from China at low low prices..pandemic or not.
So railroads implement PSR and cut the workforce, motive power and equipment being operated.
BaltACD Ulrich BaltACD In transportation you can't cut your way to growth. True, but these days there's less room than ever for underutilized capacity that is held in reserve for a rainy pandemic. We all want our pots and pans from China at low low prices..pandemic or not. So railroads implement PSR and cut the workforce, motive power and equipment being operated.
They're simply adjusting their operations to the dollar store clientele they service. And the dollar stores themselves are trying keep up with home delivery and uber guys who live on straight commissions and no benefits.
As Ulrich noted earlier, all of us bear some responsibility because we expect lower prices. This is at least somewhat to blame for our increasing reliance on Asia as our primary sourcing point over the past decade. What I think carries more responsibility however, is companies looking to reduce costs more from the perspective of improving earnings than providing lower prices.
Too many companies who should have known better decided that "global economy" meant producing for next to nothing over "there" and selling it all "here". Overseas production and ocean freight costs were cheap for so long that companies forgot to hedge their bets and have contingency plans available. Over reliance on computer algorithms for planning and a lack of common sense and institutional knowledge throughout companies and especially at the senior management levels are, in combination with the pandemic, what has brought us to this point.I'm reading quite a bit of late where companies are taking another look at their sourcing and supply chain but, only time will tell if all this "looking" translates into decisions to bring production and sourcing back to North America - at least to some degree. I have my doubts.
Juniata ManWhat I think carries more responsibility however, is companies looking to reduce costs more from the perspective of improving earnings than providing lower prices.
I would like products that last more than 6 months. I'm sure I'm far from being the only one.
zugmann Juniata Man What I think carries more responsibility however, is companies looking to reduce costs more from the perspective of improving earnings than providing lower prices. I would like products that last more than 6 months. I'm sure I'm far from being the only one.
Juniata Man What I think carries more responsibility however, is companies looking to reduce costs more from the perspective of improving earnings than providing lower prices.
Well, I have some good news for you.. some fridges out there now will last up to three years before a major repair comes along.
UlrichWell, I have some good news for you.. some fridges out there now will last up to three years before a major repair comes along.
I'll hang on to my 15+ year old one for now.
zugmann Ulrich Well, I have some good news for you.. some fridges out there now will last up to three years before a major repair comes along. I'll hang on to my 15+ year old one for now.
Ulrich Well, I have some good news for you.. some fridges out there now will last up to three years before a major repair comes along.
I would too.. my parents got rid of their 1967 fridge in 2009.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Keeping an eye on a 20+ year old unit here (With much older freezer in the garage) ... wondering who will have the more reliable unit when it does go. (probably the one least impacted by beancounters and industrial engineers not living in the real world)
Juniata ManAs Ulrich noted earlier, all of us bear some responsibility because we expect lower prices. This is at least somewhat to blame for our increasing reliance on Asia as our primary sourcing point over the past decade.
Keep in mind a lot of us never got the choice to begin with.
When Chinese made products began showing up here I was VERY uneasy about the whole situation, just as I would have been uneasy about products showing up from Nazi Germany if I lived in the 1930's. I couldn't see the reason for sending money to a Communist dictatorship, for whatever reason, so I avoided buying Chinese made products for as long as I could, and then there was no avoiding it at all. After a while I (like many others) rationalized the situation and thought "Well, if you want them to stop being Commies the best way to do it is to turn them into capitalists. Making money is a lot more fun and rewarding than wearing cheap denim suits and screaming your head off waving copies of Mao's Little Red Book!"
Turns out my initial unease was justified. As the old saying goes:
"You can't teach an old dog new tricks, or get a leopard to change it's spots."
What have the "wise heads" done to us?
When our major appliances were getting over 20 years of age, my wife wanted to replace them. I held off until they were actually dying because I was afraid that the replacements wouldn't last as long as the original if we had kept them.
I can't always buy American but I try not to buy Chinese. I'll take Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese or Filippino before Chinese. It's funny. I'm on a hunting/fishing/gun website that's mostly conservative. They talk about the pols kissing Chinese behind, yet they badmouth American products like Leupold and Trijicon while buying brands made in China. They don't even see the irony of it.
Ulrich zugmann Juniata Man What I think carries more responsibility however, is companies looking to reduce costs more from the perspective of improving earnings than providing lower prices. I would like products that last more than 6 months. I'm sure I'm far from being the only one. Well, I have some good news for you.. some fridges out there now will last up to three years before a major repair comes along.
I still have the refrigerator that was in the house when I bought it in 1990. From it, and the rest of the kitchen appliances with their 1960's-70's colors the frig might be from the late 60's. While it is a manual defrost and has a minuscule freezer compartment - it just keeps on keeping on.
I bought my Condo in Jacksonville in 1998 and have had to put three different refrigerators in it since then.
Flintlock76When Chinese made products began showing up here I was VERY uneasy about the whole situation,
I'm with you,..but I don't think my thought process advanced to the point of politics. I just didn't like the shoddy quality.
I've always been more prone to buying quality up front, treating it with care, and using it for 40 years, as opposed to buying the same junk replacements every few years. I believe it was the 1990s where junk seemed to overwhelm their quality counterparts on many store shelves. And I really hated it.
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