Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) and CSX (NYSE: CSX) are telling customers to expect continuing delays as Hurricane Dorian travels up the East Coast.
Hurricane Dorian, which was a Category 1 hurricane Sept. 6 after strengthening earlier this week to a Category 3 hurricane (see video: https://youtu.be/mQe9bNkZ2gI) has been hugging the coasts of the Carolinas, making landfall at Cape Hatteras and bringing risks of storm surges inland. The hurricane has disrupted the supply chain along the eastern U.S. all week.
“Traffic destined to or shipping from the affected areas may experience some delay. As the storm progresses north, traffic patterns are stabilizing in Florida and southern Georgia,” NS said in a Sept. 5 service update. The railroad also said its intermodal terminals are now accepting traffic destined to Florida, and it would open the gates on Sept. 6 for traffic destined to the ports of Charleston and Savannah.
Norfolk Southern also said it has staged equipment and materials in key areas and will begin recovery activities as soon as it is safe to do so.
CSX said it expects Dorian to impact portions of the CSX network in the Northeast on Sept. 6. Delays and reroutings are happening through impacted areas of Georgia and the Carolinas. The railroads said intermodal customers should refer to the real-time service advisories for intermodal-specific operational actions.