Closings in N.Y./N.J. Continue Following Sandy; Rest of Northeast Opens for Business, but Faces Delays

CIT Remains Closed; CAFC Open, Declares Legal Holidays

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, located in Washington, D.C., has reopened for business. For the purposes of computation of time and for motions to enlarge time, CAFC will consider Oct. 29 and 30, the two days it closed because of Hurricane Sandy, to be legal holidays, it said (here). But the Court of International Trade, located in Lower Manhattan, is still closed due to Hurricane Sandy, according to its website (here). CIT’s general information number is also unavailable, it said.

Port of New York/New Jersey Sustained ‘Devastating’ Damage, Remains Closed

The Port of New York and New Jersey remains closed. An Oct. 30 twitter post by the Port Newark Container Terminal (here) said a team was going in to assess damage, but that there is no estimate on when it will be open, and that there was no power in the entire port at that time. An Oct. 30 update by the Maher Container Terminal in Port Elizabeth, N.J. (here) said the entire port “has sustained devastating damage and flooding.” As of Oct. 30, Maher was waiting for permission from the N.Y./N.J. Port Authority to access the terminal to assess damage.

Meanwhile, the port of Wilmington, Del. reopened on Oct. 31, it said (here).

Rail and Truck Freight Face Delays

Among railroads, the Norfolk Southern said rail operations are resuming where safe, with service being reintroduced into lightly impacted areas Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, while heavily impacted areas could experience start up delays extending through the end of the week. As operations gradually resume, customers should continue to expect some delays, it said (here).

CSX, meanwhile, said it's restoring service in the region impacted by Sandy with the exception of lines between Philadelphia and Albany, N.Y. Crews will continue recovery efforts between Philadelphia and Albany as service slowly resumes in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, it said. Shipments moving through these areas could be delayed 72 hours or more, CSX said (here).

Trucking also is being affected, though companies said they are quickly getting back to normal in many areas. YRC Freight, for example, said the eastern area of its network was experiencing no weather-related issues, with the exception of Sandy-related snow in the Appalachians of Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania (here).

But it said it will be dealing with the storm's aftermath for at least the next several days and into next week. It said its two main distribution centers in the northeast are congested with the inbound traffic. All terminals except those in the New York City and New Jersey metropolitan areas were open to some degree, though some were without power, and in some areas it couldn't make pickups or deliveries because of storm damage.

UPS Freight said (here) most of its centers across the East Coast were operating Oct. 31, with pickups and deliveries limited only by municipal access or customer/business closures. Shipments that were held up by the storm were being moved into the area for delivery as soon as possible. But it said power outages, flooding, snow, road closures and civic restrictions will still affect service today in some areas. Disruptions can be expected in Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and coastal and northern Virginia.