CH Robinson introduces drayage congestion surcharge for major US ports

This article clearly outlines some of the reasons drayage truckers don’t want the job any more. Fixing it will require major cooperation along several elements of the container supply chain.

We can enumerate them:

• Drayage trucking companies that pick up containers weit a chassis and drive them to the next point on the journey.
• Drayage truck drivers, who are often owner-operators, paid by theload and not hourly, who can’t afford to wait for chassis or container pickup.
• Port terminal yards, which may have restrictions on hours, and increasingly operate with reservation systems that fix the time you can pick up.
• Chassis pools. To move a container you must have a chassis, and chassis are currently in short supply. At many ports they are owned by leasing companies and stored in pools, where the driver must go to pick the chassis up and drop it later.
• Forwarders and Shippers. Sometimes contracts for drayage are altered without notice and drivers must spend extra time traveling, or waiting for facilities to open. Sometimes the chassis must be dropped elsewhere, forcing the driver to go extra distance and spend unpaid time accommodating the change.
• Rail lines. Many containers are delivered by drayage firms to transfer points where they are loaded on rail cars for a long distance trip. Currently rail lines have a shortage of the rail cars required to carry containers. Rail lines are also suffering from serious delays at key transfer points, such as Chicago. Perhaps there has been chronic underinvestment in equipment for container handling. It’s not as profitable as hauling coal or grains or other bulk commodities.
• Warehouses. Often containers must be delivered or picked up within a specific time window. these windows are not flexible enough when there is a great deal of variation in pickup and travel times.

CH Robinson introduces drayage congestion surcharge for major US ports Published Sept. 2, 2021 Max Garland Reporter

CH Robinson introduces drayage congestion surcharge for major US ports | Supply Chain Dive