2 minute read
Watco’s MID-Ship Sidesteps Container Shortage
by OneWatco
A cascade of events, starting with a worldwide pandemic, has caused a system-wide container shortage, and Watco’s MID-Ship Logistics (MSL) unit has a back-to-basics solution.
Before cranes were invented for loading and unloading containers from huge vessels built to carry them, much cargo was placed in crates and handled in breakbulk vessels. And that’s exactly what Watco is able to offer customers through MSL. MSL offers total transportation and cargo handling solutions for bulk, breakbulk, containers, liquids, and project cargo.
“We are helping customers that traditionally bring cargo in containers,” said MSL President George O’Connor. O’Connor said his team finds the right breakbulk vessel owners and ports that are qualified to receive and handle the cargo and that have the necessary transloading equipment. They engage the stevedoring company to discharge the ship, the catching company or trucker to receive the cargo and bring if off the port, and the warehousing facility to receive and sort the cargo. “We provide a logistics service, leveraging the capabilities of multiple companies to deliver an integrated client solution,” O’Connor said. “We’re acting as a 4PL (fourth-party logistics provider), providing control tower type oversight to the whole operation, selected providers, and monitoring service and throughput.”
O’Connor said the breakbulk ships work for container freight. Their fixed cranes, box-shaped holds and multipurpose configuration featuring tween decks facilitate stowage of the cargo.
The switch-to-breakbulk offering began to ramp up in early 2021 and “now it’s taken on a whole new life,” said O’Connor. “We are seeing very high demand for alternative means to import containers into the U.S.” He said the program is transporting primarily breakbulk aluminum and coiled steel. Key ports receiving the most volume are on the West Coast, in Longview and Vancouver, Washington; and Long Beach and Stockton, California.
O’Connor spoke of West Coast ports as unique and emphasized MSL’s familiarity with these ports and knowledge of the right transportation-related contacts. He recalled recently talking to the director of the Port of Stockton. “He’s getting so many inquiries and telling me, ‘I don’t know what to do; I can’t support them all.’”
O’Connor had the answer: “Call us. We have the ability to put the package together with all the pieces.”
