Strike updates on Canada’s West Coast and Port of Montreal

On 12 November, Canada’s Labor Minister, Steven MacKinnon, announced steps to end recent disruptions at Montreal, Vancouver, Prince Rupert, and Fraser-Surrey ports. In line with this, maintenance operations in Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Fraser-Surrey are expected to resume today at 16:30, and operations will gradually resume on Friday, November 15, at 0100/0800 shifts. At Montreal, we don’t expect operations to resume until Saturday, November 16.

Rest assured, we continue to monitor the situation closely to provide you with timely updates on any significant developments as they unfold.

CANADA’S WEST COAST
Restart of services:

• Vancouver:
  • Friday, 15th November: 0800 shift: Truck Gate, Rail and Vessel operations resume.
• Fraser-Surrey:
  • Friday, 15th November: 0800 shift: Truck Gates Open and Container Vessel Operations resume
  • Sunday, 17th November: 1630 shift: Rail Operations Resume, Return to normal operations for Truck, Rail and Vessel
• Prince Rupert:
  • Thursday, 14th November: 1630 shift: Rail Operations resume
  • Friday, 15th November: 0100 shift: Vessel Operations resume
  • Friday, 15th November: 0800 shift: Return to normal operations for Truck Gate, Rail and Vessel

Ocean update:

• Vancouver TP1 service:
  • Marcos V (voyage 440N/ 443S) is at anchorage and the first vessel to operate at Vancouver Centerm. The vessel will take delay and complete its North America rotation. We are coordinating with our Asia team to explore potential contingencies for schedule recovery.
  • The GSL Tripoli (voyage 433N/ 436S) is delayed due to strong weather on her way to Vancouver with estimated time of arrival on November 24th. The berthing time is to be confirmed, and expected to be the next TP1 vessel berthing after the Marcos V (voyage 440N/ 443S). Her future deployment is pending confirmation after its Vancouver call.
  • San Felipe (voyage 441N / 444S) is the first vessel to operate at Prince Rupert. Pending operations at the previous port, her berth in Vancouver is to be confirmed. Similar to Marcos V 440N/ 443S, this vessel will experience delays before completing its North American rotation. The vessel is transitioning out of the TP1 service and will be succeeded by Seroja Lima (voyage 449N), departing from Xiamen on December 2.
• Prince Rupert TP1 service:
  • San Felipe (voyage 441N / 444S) is currently anchored and will be the first vessel to operate at Prince Rupert.
  • MSC Utmost VIII (voyage 442N / 445S) is at anchorage and is projected to berth following San Felipe's departure. Expect delays as the vessel completes its North American rotation.
• Surrey Panz Service:
  • Seattle Express (voyage 437N/ 443S) performed port swap calling Surrey last on her North American rotation.
  • Due to the recent rotation change, Long Beach export cargo will now be transmitted as Freight Remaining on Board (FROB) over Canada. Please submit your complete shipping instructions by the deadline as reflected on Maersk.com to ensure your cargo can loaded as scheduled.

PORT OF MONTREAL
Ocean update:

• CAE service:
  • CMA CGM Paranagua (voyage 443W/ 445E): The vessel is anchored in Montreal, Canada. Pending confirmation from the terminal about berthing time/date.
  • Maersk Volga (voyage 445W/ 447E): The vessel is on its way to Montreal, Canada with an ETA of November 18. Berthing window might be pushed back due to CMA CGM Paranagua's berthing.
• MCX Service:
  • Mombasa Express (voyage 441W/ 445E): The vessel has been alongside in Montreal since November 9th, but no operations are being performed at the moment.
  • Barcelona Express (voyage 442W/ 446E): The vessel is alongside St John for import discharge. Barcelona Express 446E cargo discharging in St. John is being planned for rail and will begin departing by destination once available.
  • Glasgow Express (voyage 447E): The vessel is planned to sail the normal rotation, after the call in St. Johns (Carrier call), proceed to Montreal, Canada. Berthing plan in Montreal is to be confirmed by carrier (Hapag Lloyd)

Rail Operations:
CPKC will be re-opening all terminals to all port destinations. This means that loaded exports, pre-gate billed empties, and non-billed empties will be allowed back into pools.
Whilst all terminals to all port destinations are reopened, the system will require some time to catch up with the lifting of restrictions. Please expect delays in line with this.

CN has begun moving staged trains towards the West Coast ports and loading existing inland terminal inventory. Inland gate export capacity to the port will be reviewed and made available in 48-hour windows. This will be communicated to the steamship lines in the next few days, based on current ground count at the inland terminals, overall pipeline to the ports, and port productivity over the next 48 hours.

Demurrage and Detention:
Reopening of ports and terminals - Maersk will resume the demurrage & detention clock on the day gate operations restart at affected ocean terminals. For cargo being received at inland locations for loading at affected ocean terminals, we will resume the clock when equipment receipt restarts at those inland locations.

In the event you are unable to obtain a terminal or rail appointment during the re-start period, please be reminded to document this through a time stamped screenshot of your attempt to secure an appointment. This will be considered in the event of any additional fees for those days; however, Maersk reserves the right to review if opportunities to move the equipment went unused.

Empty Equipment returns:
Please visit https://www.maersk.com/local-information/canada/import/ and expand the Procedure section to find the table of empty return locations.