CHICAGO — BNSF is informing customers that conditions at its four Chicago-area intermodal facilities — Corwith, Cicero, Willow Springs, and Logistics Park Chicago in Elwood, Ill. — are “extremely challenged” because of “a substantial number of staged inbound trains and elevated inventory levels.”
It is asking customers to prioritize pick-up of trailers and containers at these facilities, noting that holiday weekends typically result in more terminal dwell. “Prompt pick-up will help improve traffic flows, reduce lot congestion and provide the space needed for processing inbound shipments as quickly as possible,” the railroad said in a service advisory. It will maintain normal working hours during the Labor Day weekend.
BNSF, like all railroads, continues to deal with supply-chain issues that have strained intermodal capacity. CEO Kathryn Farmer last month outlined the railroad’s intermodal congestion issues in a letter to the Surface Transportation Board, noting “significantly more freight is coming into BNSF facilities than is being picked up and that simply is not sustainable.” [See “BNSF Railway details international intermodal congestion issues,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 5, 2021]. In July, BNSF limited the flow of containers to Logistics Park Chicago for two weeks to address a container backlog [see “BNSF restricts flow of containers …,” News Wire, July 19, 2021].
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