NY Shipping After Hurricane Sandy

On October 29^th, Hurricane Sandy was headed directly toward the ports in the New York area. With a huge hurricane arriving, most of the planning was done ahead to minimize the damage that can occur. All of the ships have been diverted to other ports and the cranes and shipping containers have been secured as best as possible to wait out the storm. As Sandy created a path of destruction throughout the Northeast United States, many homes and businesses were affected not only by power outages, but fallen trees and flooding as well. Thankfully the port was not destroyed and container ships are still able to go through the waterways in the area and ships can dock as usual.

While the port itself is built for waves and wind to flow through, there are still many problems to be faced in the wake of the hurricane. The power outages across the region have affected communication with freight forwarders and customs brokers so sharing information has to be dealt with old school style. This means a lot of paperwork for tracking containers and less communication through the internet. With many roads closed there are less people able to get to work at the ports as well. Gas is in low supply since many stations are not open due to power and some are only open for emergency vehicles. Trucks that can get out are in short fuel supply for this same reason. That's why getting a good domestic shipping quote is so important. It will take a little bit of time and patience from everyone in the shipping industry, but eventually everything will return back to normal.