Wildfire complicates shipping, convention exodus

Tourists, conventioneers and shipping companies are continuing to cope with the logistical nightmare of highways and rail lines closed by the Blue Cut Fire in Southern California.

The closure of Interstate 15 between Victorville and San Bernardino, California, and Union Pacific’s main rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas on Tuesday night has made travel difficult and put freight shipments behind schedule, but logistics experts are rerouting traffic to keep goods and people flowing in both directions.

While the midweek highway closure has had a minimal effect on tourism, the city is playing host to the MAGIC fashion trade show through Thursday, and many of the 85,000 people attending that event are starting to think about how they would get home if the highway to Southern California remains closed.

For the first half of 2016, an average 44,089 vehicles a day used I-15 between California and Nevada, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation.

“There’s a possibility of the closure having a big impact on them (MAGIC attendees), and the communications network we have with our resort partners has been pretty steady today (Wednesday),” said Jeremy Handel, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Handel said his office has had contact with representatives of the resort industry and the California Department of Transportation to keep updated on the status of the highway. The agencies regularly communicate updates during wildfires, flash floods and earthquakes that can disrupt highway traffic.

Tony Calanca, executive vice president of exhibitions for UBM Advanstar, producers of the MAGIC trade show, said it’s too early to tell how big an impact the fire and the highway closure would have on show attendees.

Calanca said that a high percentage of exhibitors and buyers are from Southern California and many of them drive to Las Vegas for the event. He said local resorts have offered extended stays in their hotels for those who don’t want to deal with a longer drive home.

“They’ve been talking about it on social media, and many are making individual decisions on whether to stay,” Calanca said. “But so far, our sense is that people will try to leave and that the fire and closures haven’t affected us.”

The shipment of goods from Southern California ports to Las Vegas have been affected by the highway closure, but Greg Stanfill, terminal manager for YRC Freight in Las Vegas, said the “relay team” at the company’s terminal in Bloomington, California, west of San Bernardino, has been managing deliveries around the closed highway.

Stanfill said that there are usually between 10 and 15 inbound and outbound truck shipments a day between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and that logistics experts have been rerouting trucks via California Highways 138, 14 and Interstate 5 around the closure. He said shipments have been delayed by about three to four hours.

Shipments to resorts are crucial, particularly for fresh produce. A spokeswoman for MGM Resorts International said the company is addressing each commodity separately and has inventory store for nearly every product. The company is keeping a close eye on produce shipments since they arrive daily, but amenities and menus at MGM resorts have not been affected.

The fire has closed Union Pacific’s primary rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas. The rail line climbs Cajon Pass just east of I-15.

Justin Jacobs, a spokesman for Union Pacific, said the railroad’s primary focus has been on helping U.S. Forest Service and local fire departments during the emergency.

Jacobs said rail deliveries to Las Vegas and points north of the city have been rerouted to a rail line west of Cajon Pass that is closer to the coast and rejoins the main line to Las Vegas via Barstow, California.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.