OCEAN MARKET UPDATE

Transparency, Optimization, Collaboration

TOC LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC. would like to provide the following supplemental ocean market update regarding U.S. port congestion:

We are re-publishing the Ocean Market Update from January 10, 2019, as it is still extremely relevant; and as referenced in that update, we believed the USEC  ports would be in a similar situation. This is now evidenced by one of TOC’s core carrier’s announcement here attached. The USEC port delays due to congestion and holiday workforce shortages are now a published reality rather than speculation. The idea that New York port(s) may take 4-6 weeks to clear rail backlogs is frightening and is causing serious financial consequences.  Please pay special attention to the AIRFREIGHT comments in the original update, as this pertains to the global airfreight market coming into North America.

Adding insult to injury, back-to-back winter storms have crippled some infrastructure in the midst of volume piling up due to the aforementioned coast port issues.

Chicago rail schedules for this week show multiple cancellations inbound and outbound. See the JOC article posted within the last 24 hours regarding Chicago/Midwest congestion and delays.

Force Majeure announcements are likely to start very soon, putting the entire logistics supply chain on notice of extreme financial burdens to maintain flows.  TOC LOGISTICS is prepared to work with our customers to manage alternative flows and modes to keep supply chains open; however, we must officially note that we cannot offer any guarantees of service performance being caused by, or that are affected by, the market and weather conditions everyone is experiencing.

Please connect with your Operations Representative and/or Account Manager to review your in-transit supply chain and begin making necessary preparations for minimizing the effects of this frustrating time.

As always, thank you for allowing TOC LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC to serve you.