Railroad Forums 

  • SIRR container traffic to NJ to start this month....

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

Moderator: David

 #1223868  by SecaucusJunction
 
Things have gone from bad to worse at the NJ ports. Rail traffic has been off about 13% year over year over the past 2 months and down an average of almost 9% for the year. For a port that is hoping to gain a lot of traffic in the future, this is definitely not good for the railroads. Total containers through the port is basically flat for the year meaning quite a few more loads are ending up on the highways and less on the rails. All the numbers are on the Port Authority website.
 #1224079  by blockline4180
 
SecaucusJunction wrote:Things have gone from bad to worse at the NJ ports. Rail traffic has been off about 13% year over year over the past 2 months and down an average of almost 9% for the year. For a port that is hoping to gain a lot of traffic in the future, this is definitely not good for the railroads. Total containers through the port is basically flat for the year meaning quite a few more loads are ending up on the highways and less on the rails. All the numbers are on the Port Authority website.

I really am surprised that nobody replied to you, as this was a very good assessment of the situation around here.....
I do think the strong trucking lobby and the strong Teamsters truckers Union presence in the region has something to with it, and prevents the railroads from even taking a good chunk of the container stuff, both TOFC and COFC......Railroad taxes may also play a role in it, but I have no idea how much, however the fact of the matter is that NJ property taxes and other local taxes that target the railroad ROW are among the highest in the country!! I have also heard the economy is weakening now as well, so that could play into part of the equation too!!!
 #1246058  by SecaucusJunction
 
Somewhat better news toward the end of the year for Expressrail. October was the highest total Expressrail lifts so far in 2013 (the latest information available) with approximately 38.9K. Up 14.5% from last year, although that number might be slightly skewed by Hurricane Sandy. That still only represents just over 7% of the total containers going into the ports of Newark/Elizabeth and NYCT and should be about 1/3 of Expressrail capacity. If the Panama Canal committee can ever figure out their financial problems and complete the project, that should help things out a bit Work has begun in earnest to raise the Bayonne Bridge to 215 feet and officials have promised to be ready by the day the canal is opened.
 #1277368  by SecaucusJunction
 
Port rail traffic is up sharply after the bitter winter. Both March and April have eclipsed 41,000 lifts, which are the second and third largest totals on record for expressrail. Only one month in 2012 was higher. These numbers are up about 11% from last year. No breakdown of numbers by railroad.

Information courtesy of the Port Authority website.
 #1285752  by SecaucusJunction
 
Good news regarding the Port Authority. A pretty good accomplishment given the atrocious weather in the area in the first 2 months of the year...


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 #1294895  by gregorygrice
 
Traffic has really boomed since I last visited the facility 2 years ago. They have also purchased a new Genset to use as their main locomotive:

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http://500px.com/photo/84519505" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1306146  by SecaucusJunction
 
Express Rail traffic has really boomed in the past few months to about 43,000 containers per month. These have been the highest totals since it opened several years ago and about 10-20+% higher than the same months last year.

Approximately one year left until the expanded canal opens... and it can't come soon enough. If the disaster that is going on right now at the west coast ports continues, the shipping companies won't have any problems filling the larger ships to the East Coast. Companies will be lining up for the new business and the Eastern Railroads should profit big time...
 #1307177  by pumpers
 
Steve F45 wrote:whats happening on the west coast ports?
There is a labor slowdown by the longshoremen (related to contract negotiations) on the whole west coast that is causing ships to back up and sit around. It has been going on since the end of October. Here is a link I found with google: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/12/0 ... p=/99/261/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Jim S
 #1307268  by SecaucusJunction
 
The west coast ports are losing the only advantage they have for service to the Eastern half of the US after the canal opens... speed. It is routinely taking 2-3+ weeks for a container to get from the scheduled port arrival date to the rail yard for departure East. If they cannot even be time competitive with the Eastern ports, they will lose a huge market share when the canal opens. As it is now, ships to the East Coast ports are at capacity and slots are hard to come by.
 #1317074  by SecaucusJunction
 
As someone who works with imports, I'll say that the Panama Canal widening can't come soon enough. Let Nicaragua open one too. The more capacity to locations away from the west coast, the better. If this drags on, the shippers who change their routes to East Coast ports may never switch back. Unfortunately trying to book a slot on a vessel from Asia to the East Coast is not easy right now and backing up like crazy.
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