Shippers Turning to DC-10's to Avoid Port Delays

[J]

West Coast Ports are experiencing slowdowns. Before the Longshoremen were protesting automation (who would think that companies would want to replace clerks making more than $100,000?) Now the problem centers around drayage drivers.

Many shippers are temporarily shifting to airfreight to deliver their eleventh hour holiday shipments in order to avoid chronic congestion and labor slowdowns at U.S. ports, according to this week's issue of Container Insight from Drewry Maritime Research.

For a number of years, global air cargo growth has trailed behind container shipping, analysts report, due to high demand for commodities that are usually shipped by sea, faster growth of low-value commodities and the sea conversion of "mature" products.

Drewry cited a recent study commissioned by the International Air Transport Association that confirmed the above factors have combined to lower air cargo volumes by as much as 15 million tons since the turn of the century. The report said the modal shift to ocean container shipping accounts for about one-third of that downturn.


http://cargobusinessnews.com/news/12021 ... dium=email