Sweating in LA

摘要

Tank container fleet owners around the world have been seeing significant increases in utilisation of late, and more promising still is what appears to finally be an impetus toward a wider use of tank containers as a transport mode, and intermodalism more generally, in the US market. A growing awareness of the efficiencies possible from the use of tank containers is combining with an increasing recognition of a need to optimise supply chains, reduce road congestion and reduce reliance on fuel due to spiraling costs. Perhaps nowhere is this being reflected more starkly than in and around the Port of Los Angeles. In the past few months, two of the largest railroads in the US - BNSF and Union Pacific (UP) - announced plans to grow inter-modal transfer operations near the port. UP says it is planning to expand its intermodal container transfer facility near the port, possibly making it capable of handling as many as 1.6 million marine containers annually. BNSF, meanwhile, is discussing plans to create a new intermodal container transfer facility about eight kilometres north of the port.