THE Union Pacific railway says it's coping with the surge in container volume at west coast ports, which began weeks ago as shippers sought to dodge the dock strike on the east and Gulf coasts, reports New York's FreightWaves.

"As part of our strategy of Safety, Service and Operational Excellence, we expect the unexpected," said UP CEO Jim Vena in a letter to Surface Transportation Board chairman Robert Primus, "we keep a buffer of resources to handle the ebbs and flows of our business, which has allowed us to recover quickly from severe weather and natural disasters, maintain fluidity during the recent Canadian rail work stoppage, and continue to improve the service we sold our customers.

"This approach also is enabling us to successfully handle the increased traffic we are seeing in 2024, with international volumes up more than 20 per cent year to date."

Last week Mr Primus requested information from BNSF and Union Pacific about how they would be able to handle an anticipated rise in container volume as importers divert shipments to the west coast to avoid gridlock at east and Gulf coast ports.

In September, UP's year-on-year west coast port volumes rose 40 per cent. "We expect some of these shifts to continue, and we are well-positioned to support it," Vena wrote.

UP has activated contingency plans to help accommodate shifts in volume. Efforts include increasing well car supply to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach by 27 per cent since the beginning of September; adding crews at inland intermodal terminals, including Global 4 in Joliet, Illinois, and in Marion, Arkansas, which serves the Memphis, Tennessee, area; and positioning additional lift equipment at Global 4.

Thanks to capacity investments, the railway was able to handle record intermodal volume at Los Angeles and Long Beach in August. UP has increased the number of train starts and continues to hire crews in the area.