Old Dominion embargoes shipments into Ontario due to backlog, weather

Dive Brief:

Old Dominion Freight Line imposed an embargo on northbound shipments to Ontario "effective immediately," citing a backlog at the Canadian border and inclement weather.
"This includes shipments picked up from anywhere in the U.S. to areas served by Toronto (TOR), Cambridge (CAM) and London (LDN) agent service centers," the carrier said in an alert on its website. Pickups in Canada are not affected by the embargo.
The company hopes to lift the embargo by the end of the week, Chip Overbey, senior vice president of strategic planning, told Transport Dive in an email.

Dive Insight:

Old Dominion's embargo shows the significant toll severe weather and other disruptions are taking on its cross-border operations. Service suspensions can create significant disruption for affected shippers, and carriers try to avoid such measures.

Last year, CEO of FedEx Freight Lance Moll took a dig at other carriers' decisions to "embargo entire sections of the country without any notice" as demand soared while supply chains congested.

Moll's company instead executed what it called a "temporary targeted volume control" and refused some LTL shipments.

Old Dominion Freight Lines imposed an embargo of northbound shipments to Ontario Tuesday.

Old Dominion Freight Lines (odfl.com)

Overbey did not respond to a follow-up request to elaborate on the reasons behind Old Dominion's move. But disruption at the Canadian border ramped up in late January.

The Freedom Convoy, as the Canadian trucker protests are known, began in opposition to the end of vaccine mandate exemptions for cross-border drivers.

The convoy drove to Ottawa to protest the mandate, and later blockaded borders in Alberta, Manitoba and, perhaps most significantly, at the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor. The mounting disruptions prompted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare a national emergency to clear the blockades.

Consistent severe weather has added another layer of challenges for cross-border shipping between the U.S. and Canada. A large storm system brought snowfall, soaking rain and high winds to the Midwest and elsewhere in the past few weeks, according to the Weather Channel.

The snow isn't over: Another pair of fast-moving low pressure systems are expected to bring a wintry mix across parts of the northern Plains, Great Lakes and Northeast between Tuesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.

Most should be relatively light, but up to 6 inches of snowfall is expected in northern New York and New England, the weather service said.

Severe winter weather wreaked havoc on supply chains around this time last year, too. A polar vortex hit the central part of the nation in February 2021 and plunged parts of Texas into a record freeze. Cascading effects included rising spot rates and resin shortages that hit several industries.