Latest Update - August 26
Hurricane Laura is headed toward the upper Texas and Louisiana coasts, with significant potential to disrupt freight flows in the region. Trucking fleets, ports and airports in the region are preparing for the storm, which could make landfall late Wednesday night.
Ports are getting ready to shut down ahead of the storm. Port Houston will temporarily close beginning Wednesday, and the U.S. Coast Guard has temporarily closed some ports in Louisiana, issuing port condition Zulu.
During port condition Zulu, no vessels may enter or move within ports without permission from the captain of the port (COTP), and all ship-to-shore operations must cease until further notice.
Ports in Louisiana that won’t be closed will remain open with restrictions. Oil refineries in the landfall region may have to shut down, and crews will likely evacuate offshore oil rigs.
Update August 24
The greater New Orleans Area is shutting today August 24th, as a precaution, anticipating Tropical Storm Marco’s arrival. The situation will be compounded later this week as Tropical Storm Laura arrives Wednesday.
- LTL carriers have embargoed service.
- TL capacity is highly constrained.
“Tropical Storm Marco, which was a Category 1 hurricane for a brief time, ran into some wind shear Sunday night. It’s back to a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph as of 8 a.m. EDT Monday.
Marco probably won’t become a hurricane again, making landfall as a tropical storm later Monday or Monday night on the Louisiana coast. The most likely landfall will be south of New Orleans, near Grand Isle. Marco could produce total rainfall accumulations of 3 to 5 inches in portions of the northeastern and north-central Gulf coast through Tuesday. Isolated maximum amounts of up to 10 inches are possible.
With Marco closing in, the U.S. Coast Guard has temporarily closed ports in Louisiana, including the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA), the Port of South Louisiana and the Port of Baton Rouge.
The ports are under condition ZULU. This means no vessels may enter or move within these ports without permission of the Captain of the Port (COTP), and all ship-to-shore operations must cease until further notice.
Right behind Marco is Tropical Storm Laura, which will dump flooding rainfall across much of Cuba on Monday. By Tuesday, it will head into the Gulf of Mexico, likely becoming a Category 1 hurricane. There’s a good chance Laura will hit the Gulf Coast as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane late Wednesday/early Thursday between Beaumont, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana.
From late Wednesday into Friday, Laura could produce excessive rainfall of 5 to 10 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches across portions of the west-central U.S. Gulf Coast. This would be from near the Texas-Louisiana border into portions of the lower Mississippi Valley.
Storm surge and heavy rainfall will likely lead to widespread flash flooding, and there’s also a threat of severe thunderstorms that may produce isolated tornadoes.”
