The US Department of Transportation said it would provide $44 million in funding toward a $146 million project to improve the main northern roads accessing the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Houston pilots said they will allow larger ships to transit the ship channel in a nod to ease a restriction that was seen as falling unfairly on the container shipping industry.

Global detention and demurrage charges doubled over the past year as shippers faced unprecedented delays in moving their cargo and ocean carriers sought quick return of equipment, according to Container xChange.

A member of the Federal Maritime Commission said the container alliances must address empty container returns in New York and New Jersey or face shortages of drayage truckers.

Hapag-Lloyd’s North American president said shippers face the prospect of elevated rates through 2022 as the ability of all ocean and motor carriers to inject additional capacity is at its limit.

The Port of Wilmington announces the start of a new refrigerated container service for the region’s produce shippers as it seeks to partake in reefer import growth along the US East Coast.

The International Council of Containership Operators, also known as the Box Club, is shutting down operations after 48 years due to the changed environment for the industry.

An industry group is urging participants along the supply chain to quickly turn around equipment as the July 4th holiday will see severe tightness for containers and chassis.

The six busiest North American ports eked out gains in import market share during 2020 thanks to the surge in inbound container volumes at the biggest gateways.

Port Container Yard has reopened a 55-acre container yard in Newark that was previously dedicated to empty containers to store import boxes vacated from congested Port of New York and New Jersey terminals.

An expected increase in resin exports out of Houston and other Gulf Coast gateways appears to be taking longer than expected as resin producers seek to supply domestic customers first.

Two members of US Congress want to give the FMC more power to enforce legal cases against ocean carriers that refuse to take export containers in a bid to help US ag shippers.

The Cass Freight Index shows shipment volumes, costs, and rates remain at or near multi-year highs after staging a strong rebound from the COVID-19 lull in freight shipments.

Hapag-Lloyd is making extra efforts to ease the burden on New York and New Jersey drayage drivers handling an unprecedented number of empty containers that have accumulated in the port.

Vessel owner Groupe Desgagnés and the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority are debuting a new container feeder service from the port of Hamilton that will allow shippers to transload in Montreal for international destinations.

Maersk Growth invests in an autonomous trucking company whose products are starting to be rolled at trailer yards across North America.

Dole will begin a new weekly container service to Port Tampa Bay that will carry its own cargo and provide additional capacity to other shippers to and from Central America.

Ocean carriers have pushed the orderbook for new vessels to a multiyear high in 2021 thanks to the strength of the freight market and the dearth of surplus vessels.

US resin exports continued to grow strongly in 2020 and shippers say exports could have been even higher if it were not for rising domestic demand and production problems.

DAT Freight & Analytics said carriers using its load board to find spot market freight will be able to use FourKites’ electronic logging device to provide visibility to shippers.

The speedy addition of new port transloading capacity in New Jersey shows the heightened demand from shippers to avoid congested rail ramps and tight drayage capacity.

Refrigerated cargo and breakbulk specialty carrier SeacatLine plans to make a bi-weekly service between Costa Rica and Tampa Bay a weekly service with an additional vessel deployment.

The US Department of Transportation is looking to further fund its decade-old bid to bring more container-on-barge services to US waterways with $10 million in new grants available for 2021.

CMA CGM’s decision to increase container vessel capacity from Southeast Asia stems from the increasing shift in import sourcing away from China and ability of East Coast ports to handle volumes.

Imports of photovoltaic cells used in solar power generation continue to reach new highs as the US developers plan to make major capacity additions over the next four years.

Drayage operators say they are raising rates and pay for drivers moving containers in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey, but it’s not enough to make up for a loss of productivity during the prolonged surge in import volumes that began in August.

The National Industrial Transportation League said that the Shipping Act needs to be updated to address the many issues that US shippers have faced over the last 10 months.

The volume of freight handled under contract with motor carriers showed a month-over-month decline in April following a strong March.

The International Longshoremen’s Association is delaying a lawsuit against two ocean carriers over making calls at a nonunion Charleston terminal until the NLRB addresses whether the lawsuit violates federal labor law.

CMA CGM said the largest container ship to arrive on the North American East Coast will start calls next week as part of a capacity increase on its Southeast Asia service.

APM Terminals said it would take part in studies to determine the viability of a greenfield container terminal south of New Orleans that would handle 22,000-TEU ships.

A US trade court’s ruling that an expansion of tariffs to include finished steel products was invalid allows shippers to claw back import levies, but steel importers say they need a full rollback before shipments can grow.

Marine terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey are taking steps that will allow them to handle more containers and deliver them more quickly to truckers as a nine-month deluge in US imports looks set to continue.

Hapag-Lloyd said truckers in the port of New York and New Jersey will be able to start dropping off empties at a new container yard and that it is working to sweep up empties that have built up at marine terminals there amid the US import surge.

Canadian National subsidiary Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad (B&LE) is taking the US Surface Transportation Board to court over its refusal to give unconditional approval of a track sale CN argues would allow for faster intermodal service.

Striking longshore workers at the Port of Montreal said a bill that passed Canada’s lower legislative house requiring them to submit to mediation with maritime employers was unwelcome.

The first big enhancement to NY–NJ intermodal service in nearly three years, Waverly Loop, is scheduled to debut at the end of 2021 while other projects are still being discussed.

Montreal’s dockworkers want to block federal intervention into their strike but offer to return to work if terminal operators agree to roll back a schedule change and other concessions.

Maersk upgraded revenue and profit expectations for the first quarter and full-year 2021 as it sees a better-than-expected demand for trans-Pacific shipping.

CMA CGM is supporting an experimental vessel that will sail around the world as part of a research project into viability of using seawater to produce hydrogen on board.