Americas

We've been managing capacity as best as possible given unprecedented circumstances to support our customers and keep their cargo moving. We encourage you to continue to communicate with our dedicated sales organization and provide accurate forecasts. Accurate forecasts will support better deployment of our capacity across our trades and in turn better support your business.

In addition, given port congestion and labor constraints at some of our ports in North America, please consider delivering your cargo following cut off guidelines (taking into account washing and fumigation timelines). As a result, we kindly ask you to consider delivery of your cargo as close as possible to receiving cut off (vessel ETA). This will allow us to better utilize space at our ports and terminals as well as allow for more efficient vessel loading and unloading operations. Early delivery of cargo is causing high inventory levels and it is impacting our efficiency and flexibility to operate our vessels.

Trucking capacity and labor shortages continue to disrupt port operations, as cargo is not able to be delivered and picked up as efficiently. Vessel delays also make it difficult to arrange for cargo pick ups and drop offs. In addition, high inventory levels remain at some of the US West Coast ports, where pick up of cargo needs to be expedited.

Port of Galveston: Based on review of recent post-dredging surveys, the Navigation Advisory Committee determined that the maximum normal draft for vessels calling and safely transiting the berth is 33ft. This change in parameter means that we need to reduce the amount of cargo we place in our vessels.

Manzanillo, Panama: We are experiencing high cargo volumes on the terminal due to unprecedented surges in import cargo from Asia, Europe and North America. We are working hard to optimize our loading operations, while also working with local partners to manage the cargo overflows as well as additional storage capacity.

Port Hueneme, California: Congestion in some key ports Northern Europe has delayed vessel arrivals into Hueneme. Heavy congestion is now expected due to vessel bunching and particular risk for delays due to high import auto volumes.

Veracruz and Altamira, Mexico: Delays of up to 6 days are being reported in Altamira and Veracruz due to port closures associated with high winds. In addition, we are also seeing high occupancy levels at the yards and processors facilities, which impacts our ability to discharge cargo more efficiently, further impacting our schedules.

Callao, Peru: We continue to face lack of visibility and predictability to our schedule at Port of Callao. In addition, we are facing further complexities with the berthing window program. We are closely monitoring the political situation in the country and may decide to divert to alternative ports.

San Antonio, Chile: As a result of a decrease in the number of vessels calling and cargo volume, the average waiting time has drastically improved and today the average waiting time is approximately 3 days. Daily average discharge rate has also improved.

Vehicle processing:
Operations: Our port processing centers are open and operational. As production continues to be disrupted, we continue to be flexible in the services we offer, how we organize our sites, as well as seeking additional storage options where necessary.

Mexico: All facilities remain open and operational; safety measures continue to be in place in all of them to ensure the health of our employees. We are working closely with plant production and vehicle distribution areas in every facility across the country to ensure and adjust capacity/resources as they face intermittent shutdowns due lack of components to assemble vehicles.

Canada: In Annacis, inbound volumes continue to be lower than typical seasonal volumes. Currently, due to the lower volumes, there are not any operational or vessel constraints affecting throughput or capacity. With the lower volumes this has had minimal impact on the overall service. We continue to anticipate an increase in volume and are preparing our staffing for a return to those levels.

Equipment processing:
Operations: Our equipment processing centers in the U.S. and Panama are open and operational, though with reduced staff in some locations to reflect demand.

Capacity: We continue to see strong volumes at both our on-port and off-port EPC sites and encourage our customers to both look at their upcoming forecasts and any planned changes to assist planning for our operations teams.

Keen Transport’s trucks are operational and deliver units to and from ports, plants and dealerships. The regional maintenance facilities are open to keep the fleet on the road, as well as our permitting team to secure necessary approvals.