(The following article by Paul T. Rosynsky was posted on the Oakland Tribune website on September 14.)
OAKLAND, Calif. — An unexpected surge of cargo imports at West Coast ports is wreaking havoc with the state’s rail system, causing delays for both passenger and freight trains.
Amtrak trains along the San Joaquin and Capitol corridors have seen delays of up to 45 minutes, and shipping companies have had to juggle their schedules.
As a result, shippers are trying to avoid ports where freight train backups leave containers on docks for at least a week.
“This is a continuing problem for us,” said Sarah Swain, spokeswoman for Amtrak. “It just seems like there is increased usage and traffic on the lines, so just like a freeway, where there are more cars there is traffic.”
The problems started about a year ago when considerably more imports than expected began arriving around the same time a large number of train engineers and other railroad employees happened to be retiring. That all led to a dearth of manpower to handle the increased loads.
Both the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad companies consequently could not get needed supplies to the
ports with a large number of containers. And that resulted in tracks being filled with idling trains.
“We know it is going to be a long walk before we get the situation back to where we want it,” said John Bromley, spokesman for Union Pacific. “We just underestimated our manpower needs.”
The constant delays irked Oakland port officials, who at one point this year could not get either railroad to deliver the cars needed to ship containers off port property. Some shipping companies skipped their routine stops in Oakland and unloaded all containers in Southern California.
Port officials had hoped congestion in Southern California would lure shippers to Oakland.
“It created a backup for the ships, and then once the ships backed up you had a trickle-down effect,” said Wilson Lacy, the Oakland port’s maritime director. “It backed up terminals, and as a result some ships were cutting and running in Los Angeles and bypassing us.”
It’s unclear what, if any, financial impact the delays will have on the Port of Oakland or the national economy.
But at least one group representing shippers said the impacts have been felt on the retail market.
“The congestion issue has definitely hurt our folks,” said Ezra Finkin, a legislative representative with the Waterfront Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group that represents retail stores and other shipping companies.
Representatives from both Burlington Northern-Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads said they are setting record paces for hiring new employees and are working with ports and commuter rail lines to avoid further delays.
But it takes time to train new railroad employees, so the prob-
lem could persist for a few more months.
Both railroads have begun discussing their problems openly, breaking a long trend of secretly planning their operations. That has helped the industry make better plans.
“It’s getting better,” Lacy said. “There is a cooperation between them now that hasn’t happened before.”