Truckers foresee
trouble keeping up

Matson ups fuel fee
Bush in court to open ports

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By Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.com

Ships from Hawaii's two ocean freight companies will start arriving in Honolulu Friday.

But getting the goods to consumers may pose another problem.

Oahu truckers are fearful that a logjam at the dock will occur due to a chassis shortage and because of the frequency with which vessels from Matson Navigation Co. and CSX will come into port.

The chassis are the steel frames on wheels that support the containers and are hooked up to trucks for delivery.

"Conditions won't be normal because Matson is short on chassis," said Tim Forkner, regional general manager of Hawaii for Dependable Hawaiian Express. "There will be long lines at the dock. The whole transit time will slow. Matson had a meeting with the truckers on Friday and indicated there's not enough chassis on the island to handle incoming containers."

Matson spokesman Jeff Hull admitted "there will be some equipment issues during the recovery periods.

"We'll do our best job to manage our equipment inventory," he said.

The chassis problem developed when customers began pulling their containers from the pier prior to the work stoppage due to the uncertainty of what might happen on the Hawaii docks.

"There's a lot of equipment sitting in the community," said Alvin Tanaka, president of Pacific Transfer LLC. "Some people are using it as storage until the comfort level returns."

While it may have been good for peace of mind, it could create problems by early next week after a few ships have arrived. CSX has one vessel, the CSX Consumer, arriving at 9 a.m. Friday while Matson has ships arriving on five consecutive days, beginning with the Kauai at 7 a.m. Saturday. After Friday, CSX's progression of ships will arrive Sunday, then Oct. 17 and Oct. 20.

Brian Taylor, vice president and general manager of Hawaii-Guam for CSX, implored customers to return the equipment.

"We both brought in additional chassis in the last six months, but when you get a huge surge of freight, it can be a challenge, particularly if some customers are sitting on boxes at their facilities for long period of times," Taylor said.

"I think it's going to be a challenge (when the ships arrive). Certainly, we encourage all customers to empty the equipment and return (it)."

Dependable Hawaiian Express, better known as DHX, normally guarantees it will deliver freight within 48 hours of a ship arriving. However, it said yesterday it will need an additional two to four days or more for delivery from the time the ship arrives in Honolulu. DHX cited chassis shortages, long lines at the ports and barge overbookings for the reason.

Given a worse-case scenario, it could take six days for truckers to deliver the goods to distributors. Then, distributors may need a day or two to get the goods to their final destination. Therefore, some goods may not appear on store shelves until a week after they arrive.

"When you're hauling a container, if there's not enough chassis, or wheels, the containers are stacked and piled on the ground and we can't get to them," Forkner said.

DHX, which had to furlough between 60 and 70 percent of its 84 employees, said it will work the docks Saturday and Sunday and start recalling most of its furloughed people by Monday. Many other Hawaii trucking companies have been forced to implement similar furloughs.

Matson and CSX also could face shipping delays of a day or two if the docks reopen to all traffic, which seemed likely today as President Bush sought court approval for an 80-day suspension of the lockout at the same time that the ILWU offered a 30-day contract extension.

While Hawaii and Alaska have been spared further hardship due to last week's exemptions, some other isolated areas haven't been as fortunate.

Guam, which also has been seeking an exemption, received a shipment from CSX yesterday that came from Hawaii. However, the U.S. territory is not allowed to receive shipments from the West Coast. CSX's next ship won't arrive in Guam for at least another 10 to 12 days.

American Samoa also has appealed for an exemption. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union agreed to the request but the Pacific Maritime Association has not made a decision.

Meanwhile, DHX and Pacific Transfer are continuing to see strong air freight business despite the renewal of the ocean shipments. Forkner, of DHX, said the company has five scheduled charter round trips and has the capability to increase its cargo. He said he expects to be busy through next week.

Tanaka, of Pacific Transfer, said his air freight business also should be strong through next week because companies had to commit to flying in their goods before the exemption was granted.