2005 Nightmare - NO Rails

CSX Rail Yard, New Orleans

Boating On The CSX Line

CSX building in Mobile, Alabama

These four pictures (three are below) were taken from a helicopter that

Canadian National RR rented of the Mccomb Subdivision damage just north of New Orleans.

They cleared over8,000 trees from the tracks.

Hurricane Katrina Hit Hard, But it Will Not Hold Down N.O. Rails!

Backhaul! - The Clue

This empty container, above, is a clue that M/V P&O Nedlloyd Barcelona was traveling West Bound -- towards Asia. Given the great imbalance of trade with North America -- statistics favor many of these containers being empty on return to Asia. M/V P&O Nedlloyd Barcelona was returning to origin.

The Cargo Letter Daily Casualties Report>>

World Response To Hurricane Katrina >> In an accelerating drive, more than 50 countries have pledged money or other aid to help Americans recover from Hurricane Katrina. The pledges blur political lines. Cuba & Venezuela have offered help despite differences with Washington. Oil giant Saudi Arabia & tiny countries like Dominica are among nations making pledges. If so, one wonders why OPEC countries would not drop oil prices by at leat 20% on US$70 per barrel oil -- which costs them US$4 in production cost. Australia announced a donation of US$8M ($A10 million) to the American Red Cross. "The United States is so often at the forefront of Int'l aid efforts to help less fortunate nations," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. France, "determined to show its solidarity with the United States," offered a range of aircraft & 2 ships, with helicopters & planes capable of airlifting tons of supplies, a disaster unit with 20 soldiers, a civil defence detachment of 35 people and an airborne emergency unit, the French Embassy said. Canada is loading 3 warships and a Coast Guard vessel in Halifax with emergency supplies & food and will dispatch them Sept. 6, to Louisiana. Japan will contribute US$200,000 ($A262,777) to the American Red Cross for its relief operations. Upon request, Japan is prepared to provide up to US$300,000 ($A394,166) worth of tents, blankets, power generators, portable water tanks & other equipment. By Sept. 2, offers had been received from Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Guatemala, Paraguay, Belgium, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Italy, Guyana, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Lithuania, Spain, Dominica, Norway, Cuba, Bahamas, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Iceland, India, Jordan, Luxembourg, the Philippines, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand & Turkey. America Thanks Her Friends. (Fri. Sept. 2 2005)

Facts about the Port of New Orleans:

_About 6,000 seagoing vessels pass through the Port of New Orleans annually.
_The port handled 31.4 million tons of cargo in 2004, up 5% from 2003, with imports accounting for 72% of the traffic.

_It's the largest tonnage port in the U.S., handling nearly 200 million tons of commodities annually, including import petroleum products & export grain.

_Hurricane Katrina interrupted farm shipments through New Orleans, where more than half of the nation's grain exports depart for overseas.

_Freight railroads with lines through the New Orleans area damaged by Katrina were detoured as far north as Chicago.

_New Orleans currently ranks 3rd among Gulf Coast cruise ports with 26% of market share. (Tues. Sept. 6 2005)

The Dedication of This Feature Is Simple: To The People of New Orleans And Their Great Railroading History

SPECIAL NOTE: The historic dangers of carriage by sea continue to be quite real. Shippers must be encouraged to purchase high quality marine cargo insurance from their freight forwarder or customs broker. It's dangerous out there.

INDEX TO OUR "N.O. Rails" PAGE SPECIAL FEATURES:

New Oreans Railroads
Canadian National Railway
Katrina Update

CSX Corp.

Kansas City Southern

Norfolk Southern

Katrina Update

Union Pacific

Katrina Update

New Oreans

Louis Armstrong New Orleans Int'l Airport
Port of New Orleans

New Orleans Visitors Bureau

Hurricanes

Category 5 hurricanes
Freight Detective Meteorologist

Hurricane City

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina Official City of New Orleans Site
Hurricane Katrina Survivor Database

Hurricane Katrina Timeline

Hurricane Katrina Transportation Interuptions

Official U.S. Coast Guard Management Site For Hurricane Katrina

Post Katrina Satellite Survey of Gulf Port

Preliminary Damage Report On Bridges

Report On Oil & Natural Gas Impact From Hurricane Katrina

Oil Rig & Platform Evacuation Statistics For Gulf Crisis

USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park -- famous vessel survived

Our Other Rail Losses - -

"Rail Mate" - a July 2001 disaster in Egypt

SPECIAL NOTE: The historic dangers of carriage by air & sea continue to be quite real. Shippers must be encouraged to purchase high quality marine cargo insurance from their freight forwarder or customs broker. It's dangerous out there.

Thanks To Our Contributors For The "N.O. Rails" Feature

Our Contributors for this feature are:
* Anonymous contributors who wish to be anonymous
Anonymous engineer on the CN Line

Our Own ....The Doc

James Conn, Export Customer Service Hapag-Lloyd (America) Inc.

Libby Thompson -- Countryman & McDaniel

NOTE: Please Provide Us With Your Additional Information For This Loss.

EDITOR'S NOTE FOR SURVEYORS, ATTORNEYS & MARINE ADJUSTERS: The Internet edition effort of The Cargo Letter now celebrates it's 8th Year of Service -- making us quite senior in this segment of the industry. We once estimated container underway losses at about 1,500 per year. Lloyd's put that figure at about 10,000 earlier this year. Quite obviously, the reporting mechanism for these massive losses is not supported by the lines. News of these events is not posted to the maritime community. Our new project is to call upon you -- those handling the claims -- to let us know of each container loss at sea-- in confidentiality. Many of you survey on behalf of cargo interests with no need for confidentiality. Others work for the lines & need to be protected. As a respected Int'l publication, The Cargo Letter enjoys full press privileges & cannot be forced to disclose our sources of information. No successful attempt has ever been made. If a personal notation for your report is desired -- each contributor will be given a "hot link" to your company Website in each & every report. Please take moment & report your "overside" containers to us. If you do not wish attribution, your entry will be "anonymous." This will will benefit our industry -- for obvious reasons! McD

* NOTE: The Cargo Letter wants you to know that by keeping the identity of our contributors 100% Confidential, you are able to view our continuing series of "Cargo Disasters." Our friends send us materials which benefit the industry. The materials are provided to our news publication with complete and enforceable confidentiality for the sender. In turn, we provide these materials to you.

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Hurricane Katrina -- The Rail Result
The Photos In This Feature Need Few Captions The Devastation Was Complete. N.O. Had NO Rails