Union Pacific railroad puts its shipping limits on hold

Source: Associated Press

Union Pacific railroad puts its shipping limits on hold

By JOSH FUNK
December 18, 2022

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific says it will stop imposing temporary limits on certain businesses’ shipments while it reviews the policy that federal regulators and shippers criticized at a hearing last week.

Union Pacific has put more than 1,000 of these embargoes in place this year — significantly more than all the other major freight railroads combined — as part of its effort to clear up congestion along the railroad. CEO Lance Fritz said a brief letter to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board Friday that UP will put all new embargoes on hold.

These orders that force businesses to temporarily limit their shipments and pull some of their railcars off of UP’s network caught regulators eye because they are up significantly over the past few years. In 2018, UP used 140 of them, according to the STB.

Members of the STB and companies that rely on railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products said at last week’s two-day hearing that the embargoes disrupt business operations and drive up shipping costs because companies may have to resort to more expensive shipping options, like trucking.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-omaha-transportation-427c1cfa2f32b07b2cb30e74cb74448f