Snowstorm Disrupting Operations for Ports, Railroads, Package Carriers
January 22 2016 - 2:09PM
Dow Jones News
By Laura Stevens and Robbie Whelan
The winter storm barreling up the East Coast disrupted shipping
operations Friday, and companies from package carriers to railroads
warned that some deliveries could be delayed.
Transportation operators across the densely packed mid-Atlantic
and Northeast regions scaled down operations to brace for the
storm, which has already dumped heavy snow on southern states as it
slowly moves north. Several airlines canceled passenger flights out
of Washington, D.C., and New York airports and the Amtrak passenger
rail network said it had "canceled or truncated" services on lines
stretching from New Orleans to Chicago and New York.
FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. said in notices to
customers that the blizzard had started hitting their operations
late Thursday. FedEx said its Memphis, Tenn., air hub experienced
"substantial flight and sort disruptions" due to winter weather. As
a result, a number of Express packages slated for delivery Friday
may be delayed across the U.S.
UPS, which has its main hub in Louisville, Ky., and a regional
sorting operation in Newark, N.J., said on its website that severe
winter weather was preventing pickups and deliveries in some areas
of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. It said it had contingency
plans in place to get packages to customers "as quickly as
conditions permit."
Freight movers in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast said the
effects of the storm would be mitigated by the fact that the worst
snow is expected over the weekend, when many operations are already
scaled down.
Terminals at the New Jersey ports around New York Harbor
occasionally open their gates for specially-schedule weekend hours,
but they will remain closed this weekend, a Port Authority
spokesman said. Other ocean ports on the East Coast said they
expected to remain open through the storm and freight railroads
were shuttling equipment into the region in an effort to keep
trains running.
CSX Corp. posted a customer message that it expected delays
throughout the weekend as conditions worsened. The railroad said it
was moving as much freight as possible before the storm, and it
moved equipment, generators and extra locomotives to areas in the
storm's path to keep the freight network running.
"Snow removal contractors have been contacted and are standing
by at all intermodal ramps across the rail network from Charlotte,
N.C., to New England," CSX wrote.
Norfolk Southern Corp. said customers should expect delays of
between 24 and 48 hours on traffic moving through the Southeast,
Mid-Atlantic and Northeast in the path of heavy snow, blizzard
conditions and sub-zero temperatures.
The Port of Baltimore was salting the areas around container
terminals on Friday. But Baltimore's terminals, like the terminals
in Newark and Elizabeth, N.J., which make up the country's
third-largest seaport, are closed to truck traffic on weekends
anyway, so the storm is not expected to change business operations
much.
Port facilities at Norfolk, Va., and Wilmington, Del., also will
remain open, with Wilmington expecting to handle five ships
scheduled to arrive over the weekend.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 22, 2016 13:54 ET (18:54 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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