Frustrated shippers caught in Canadian rail congestion call for help // 遭遇加拿大铁路拥堵的沮丧的托运人寻求帮助

发布日期:2022-11-01 11:20
Predictions that congestion at rail yards in Canada’s interior would ease this month and next are not playing out so far, prompting frustrated importers and forwarders to ask for government intervention.

The problems are most pronounced at rail hubs around Toronto and Montreal.

“The Montreal rail terminal situation is still bad to very bad,” reported Karl-Heinz Legler, general manager of Rutherford Global Logistics, adding that the forwarder’s Toronto office describes the situation there as even worse.

Truckers have waited up to nine hours to collect cargo in Montreal, sometimes arriving at the terminal having been told containers are available, only to find they are still on the rail cars, he said.

Congestion disrupted intermodal flows to Canada’s large markets throughout the summer. Industry executives predicted improvement in autumn but this has failed to materialise so far, despite a decline in waterborne imports from Asia.

According to one forwarder, Canadian Pacific has initiated an embargo for containers from the west coast to Montreal for most of the last week of November.

In August, Canadian National (CN) set up relief container yards around Toronto and Montreal, pledging to move boxes as close as possible to their destinations, and charged customers shuttle fees ranging from $300 to $550.

According to the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFFA), the situation has been exacerbated by government efforts to help reduce congestion at west coast container gateways (notably Vancouver), which only served to push the problem to inland rail facilities already struggling to cope with volumes.

Now, forwarders and importers are looking to the authorities for help to fix the problem. Bruce Rodgers, executive director of CIFFA, has asked federal agencies like Transport Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency to help.

“Recent decisions by government to clear the backlog at the Pacific gateway only resulted in a worsening situation. Without foresight, decisions were made, not to work on a solution to the problem, but to shift the burden inland.”

Trucking interest groups have also called for government intervention.

Flows from the port of Vancouver have suffered several massive disruptions from severe weather over the past couple of years, which prompted Ottawa to set up a task force to address supply chain issues.

Transport Canada released a report on supply chain problems in early October, in which it suggested policies – from addressing the labour shortage to supply chain data flow and digitisation – and also proposed the creation of a supply chain office to concentrate Ottawa’s approach to transport issues.

Industry bodies have welcomed the recommendations, but companies argue there is a need for immediate measures to deal with current issues. Their frustration with lack of improvement in supply chain flows is aggravated by storage charges levied by the rail companies.

“Trucking companies have no choice but to pass on increased operating costs and have to refuse, in many instances, container haulage because their equipment is tied up at terminals,” said Mr Legler.

“Freight forwarders often get stuck between clients refusing to pay extra charges beyond their control and there are horror stories of uncollectable charges for some, exceeding C$100,000 (US$73,484),” he added.

According to forwarders, the rail companies have not shown any leniency on those charges, a stance that angers importers and forwarders in light of the railways’ profits. CN tabled record results for the third quarter on 25 October reporting a 26% increase in revenue and a 44% surge in operating profit.

原文翻译参考:
有关加拿大内陆地区铁路货场的拥挤情况将在本月和下月得到缓解的预测,到目前为止还没有实现,这促使沮丧的进口商和货运代理要求政府进行干预。

问题在多伦多和蒙特利尔周围的铁路枢纽最为明显。

卢瑟福全球物流公司总经理Karl-Heinz Legler报告说:"蒙特利尔铁路终端的情况仍然很糟糕,甚至非常糟糕,"他补充说,该货代公司的多伦多办事处称那里的情况更糟糕。

他说,卡车司机在蒙特利尔等待取货的时间长达9个小时,有时到达码头时被告知有集装箱可用,但却发现它们仍在铁路车厢上。

整个夏天,拥堵扰乱了通往加拿大大型市场的联运流程。业内高管预测秋季会有所改善,但到目前为止还没有实现,尽管来自亚洲的水运进口有所下降。

据一家货代公司称,加拿大太平洋公司在11月最后一周的大部分时间里,对从西海岸到蒙特利尔的集装箱实行了禁运。

8月,加拿大国家公司(CN)在多伦多和蒙特利尔周围设立了救济集装箱堆场,承诺将箱子尽可能地运到目的地,并向客户收取300至550美元不等的穿梭费。

据加拿大国际货运代理协会(CIFFA)称,政府努力帮助减少西海岸集装箱门户(特别是温哥华)的拥堵,这只会将问题推给已经在努力应对货运量的内陆铁路设施,使情况变得更加严重。

现在,货代和进口商正在向当局寻求帮助,以解决这个问题。CIFFA的执行董事布鲁斯-罗杰斯(Bruce Rodgers)已经要求加拿大交通部和加拿大边境服务局等联邦机构提供帮助。

"政府最近决定清理太平洋门户的积压工作,只导致了情况的恶化。在没有远见的情况下,做出的决定不是致力于解决这个问题,而是将负担转移到内陆。"

卡车运输利益集团也呼吁政府进行干预。

在过去的几年里,温哥华港的流量因恶劣的天气而遭受了几次大规模的中断,这促使渥太华成立了一个工作队来解决供应链问题。

加拿大交通部在10月初发布了一份关于供应链问题的报告,其中提出了一些政策建议--从解决劳动力短缺到供应链数据流和数字化--还建议成立一个供应链办公室,以集中处理渥太华的运输问题。

行业机构对这些建议表示欢迎,但企业认为有必要立即采取措施来处理当前的问题。他们对供应链流动缺乏改善感到沮丧,而铁路公司征收的仓储费更加剧了这种沮丧。

"Legler先生说:"卡车公司别无选择,只能转嫁增加的运营成本,在许多情况下不得不拒绝集装箱运输,因为他们的设备被绑在了码头上。

"他补充说:"货运代理公司经常被客户拒绝支付他们无法控制的额外费用所困扰,有些客户的费用无法收回,超过10万加元(73,484美元),这是一个可怕的故事。

据货代公司称,铁路公司在这些费用上没有表现出任何宽松的态度,鉴于铁路公司的利润,这种立场让进口商和货代公司感到愤怒。10月25日,CN提交了第三季度的创纪录业绩,报告称收入增加了26%,营业利润激增了44%。

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