Winter storms, lack of equipment cause rail delays at East Coast ports

The Port of New York and New Jersey is experiencing crippling delays at its ExpressRail terminals as winter storms in the Midwest prevented necessary rail equipment from reaching East Coast ports on time.    Severe winter weather in Chicago and the Midwest region, a lack of available rail equipment, and train length restrictions have resulted in higher than normal dwell time on rail containers at East Coast Ports, the Port of New York and New Jersey confirmed this week.
   Rail terminals in Chicago were closed or delayed due to the winter storms that “impacted the railroads’ ability to get empty rail cars back to East coast ports,” a spokesperson for the port confirmed. As a result, “empty rail cars are not being brought to East Coast ports at the rates needed to meet the demand of the imports destined for the Midwest, so imports remain on the docks until sufficient rail cars arrive.”
   However, the worst of the delays occurred late last week, the port said.
   “Port staff are working diligently with both CSX and Norfolk Southern to ensure that adequate quantities of empty rail equipment are routed to ExpressRail terminals in a timely fashion to clear the rail backlog as quickly as possible,” the Port of New York and New Jersey told customers on its website.
   The port authority said the problem affected other East Coast ports as well, but the ports of Philadelphia, Baltimore and South Carolina were not experiencing any problems, according to a report from the Journal of Commerce (JOC).