Vancouver port ranked 347th of 348 on global efficiency list
The Port of Vancouver positioned second-to-last on a worldwide rating of a whole bunch of container ports, after some cargo ships waited weeks to unload their cargo final yr.
Compiled by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence, the container port efficiency index lists Vancouver at No. 347 out of 348 – and lifeless final amongst ports of comparable measurement.
The research makes use of vessel wait instances as an indicator of general effectivity.
Strong shopper demand drove a surge of imports to ports all alongside the west coast of North America in 2021 and 2022, inflicting congestion that has eased since December, stated Vancouver Fraser Port Authority spokesman Alex Munro.
Indeed, eight of the 14 lowest-ranked container ports have been in North America, together with British Columbia’s Prince Rupert, Los Angeles, neighboring Long Beach and, in final place, Savannah, Ga.
Munro cited extra challenges that included “supply chain congestion” in Ontario and Quebec in addition to an “overhang” from flooding in British Columbia in late 2021 that severed Vancouver from the nation’s transportation community for eight days.
“The last few years have reinforced the need to continue to invest in port infrastructure and technology to accommodate Canada’s growing trade and keep supply chains moving efficiently,” Munro stated in an electronic mail.
In 2022, container volumes on the Vancouver port fell by 4 per cent yr over yr amid softer shopper demand and overstocked inventories, however final yr’s complete nonetheless marked its third-highest quantity on document.
Full container yards and an absence of space for storing at distribution hubs meant cargo vessels sat at anchor for roughly 10 days on common within the first half of 2022 – greater than twice so long as a yr earlier – earlier than docking on the nation’s largest port.
Trevor Plett, co-owner of R.R. Plett trucking, stated build-ups at privately owned “off-dock” services marked a vital bottleneck.
“At some points you had 100 chassis tied up with some with empty containers not being able to return (to port) because the off-docks were full. That was probably the biggest frustration,” stated Plett, whose Langley, B.C. firm takes temperature-controlled containers of beef, pork and hen to the terminal for export and hauls an assortment of merchandise inland.
“The containers come off the boat, we pick them up at the terminal, we unload the product at the customer’s. And then we’re supposed to take that empty container back to either port or back to an off-dock,” Plett stated, describing the same old cargo course of.
“Both of those options were, for a time, not available. So they said, ‘Just keep it on your chassis.”’
Eventually, he needed to contract a 3rd get together to dump the containers in an empty subject with a purpose to unlock semi-trailers for additional deliveries, with about 80 bins piled up on the peak.
Most prices have been handed alongside to importers and shippers, he stated. But not all bills have been recouped, with the 45-year-old firm renting additional chassis when others have been in supply limbo.
Despite a worldwide easing of pandemic-induced logistical issues, the Vancouver and Prince Rupert ports slipped within the rankings final yr. Vancouver, which beat Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2021, ranked beneath them final yr. Prince Rupert toppled to seventh-last from its perch thirty second from the underside the yr earlier than.
“The improvement in 2022 has had a positive impact on the performance and ranking of some ports; where the problem was systemic, as opposed to location-specific, the inherent inefficiency remains,” the report acknowledged.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed June 12, 2023.
