UP Exec Says Mistakes Led to Port Logjam

Union Pacific’s regional vice president, Robert Starzel, said that small mistakes led to the massive logjam that clogged West Coast ports and left Midwestern grain sitting on the ground, but that the company is digging its way out of the mess. At a hearing of the state Public Utilities Commission in Long Beach, Starzel said the congestion is beginning to clear, although operations probably won’t return to normal until late December or early January. “We have a massive mess on our hands and we deeply regret that,” Starzel said. The hearing was on the port congestion that began in August and gradually spread across the country. “We made some serious mistakes and they were small mistakes initially.” The first was a decision by UP to close a rail yard near Houston that was acquired last year in UP’s merger with Southern Pacific. The company also seriously underestimated an increase in cargo volume at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. UP is revising its forecasting methods to avoid another miscalculation next year, Starzel said. “This is more than a wake-up call. This has been an explosion in our ears,” he said. To compensate, Union Pacific has taken the drastic step of asking its competitors to take some of its shipments. The company has also lost some big customers, including the U.S. military.