International ports

The Galex service, an intra-Asia loop operated jointly by Emirates Shipping Line, Hanjin Shipping, Korea Marine Transport Co. and Regional Container Lines, is adding a second call at Cochin, India, on its eastbound rotation.

The announcement this week by CMA CGM that it will share slots on China Ocean Shipping Company’s trans-Pacific service from Asia to Prince Rupert, Canada, caps off one of the more eventful years in the short history of the port’s container operations.

Citigroup revised downward its net income estimate for Malaysia’s Westports Holdings in fiscal years 15 to 17 by 5 percent to 6 percent and reiterated its sell rating on the stock, despite the terminal operator handling a record 2.29 million TEUs in the third quarter.

The vessel backlog that’s plagued the Panama Canal since mid-October remains above normal levels, but canal authority officials say wait times are now diminishing since they started taking steps to expedite traffic through the waterway.

China’s Belt and Road initiative means opportunities for maritime and logistics players despite inherent risks with investing in some of the markets along the planned routes, according to top executives from three leading China-based logistics and port companies.

Mitsui-Soko Holdings Co., a major Japan transportation and logistics service provider, is poised to acquire Naha International Container Terminal Inc. in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, as part of its global expansion strategy.

Hong Kong’s Acting Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor could easily have been seen as oblivious to the plight of the city’s port as she delivered a keynote address to the logistics and maritime industry at a government-organized conference in Hong Kong the day after the release of the latest dismal port throughput figures.

Brazil’s government has sold off the first of 97 port concessions valued at a total of $7.5 billion and is aiming to sell off four more by Dec. 9.

The Busan Port Authority expects 2015 container throughput to grow by around 5 percent, in which case total full-year throughput volume would rise to more than 19.6 million 20-foot-equivalent units.

Throughput at the Port of Incheon in South Korea will be lower than expected in 2015 as a result of weak demand from Europe.

Hamburg and Bremerhaven continue to lose business within the North European range to their western competitors Rotterdam and Antwerp.

Port development in Indonesia is moving at full speed, driven by a sense of urgency as the republic seeks to rejuvenate its crumbling maritime infrastructure, and the deep-sea development at Kijing is a critical part of that effort.

A mass protest by independent truckers and stevedores that threatened to shut down the port of Santos, Latin America’s largest container gateway, failed to materialize.

Widespread predictions that an expanded Panama Canal will set off a boom in Panamanian transshipments are unlikely to pan out, according to port analyst Asaf Ashar.

Greek ports are at a standstill as dockworkers take part in the first general strike since the country’s leftist government took power in January.

Container throughput at India’s major state-owned ports recorded modest growth during the first seven fiscal months, compared with the same period last year, dragged down by slowing global trade, according to port statistics compiled by JOC.com.

Stevedores at Brazil’s port of Santos, Latin America’s largest container port, will join striking independent truck drivers demanding the resignation of President Dilma Rousseff.

Nearly a month after a queue of ships began to mount on either side of the Panama Canal, canal authorities say they are now taking steps to expedite the traffic, decrease transit times and reduce the current backlog of vessels.

Brazil’s second-largest container terminal, Terminal de Conteineres de Paranaguá at the port of Paranagua, will soon be able to handle ships of more than 10,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units as a result of dredging.

Capacity at Ukraine’s Odessa seaport will increase to 400,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units annually by 2017 thanks to the addition of a second phase to the existing container terminal.

The port of Felixstowe has officially inaugurated an extended berth that will enable it to simultaneously handle two mega-container vessels of more 18,000 TEUs capacity.

The port of Rotterdam has increased the discount for containers that are transshipped to other European ports and has extended the discount for feeder containers.

Growing competition between shipping lines in Europe and China to develop new logistics hubs in West Africa and serve growing container traffic in the region is expected to bring at least six ports with capacities of 1 million 20-foot-equivalent units or more online over the next decade.

South Korea carrier Hanjin Shipping has offloaded its stake in its Busan terminal operations as it continues with efforts to bolster liquidity.

Rice exporters in Cambodia say high port and container-related costs undermine their competitiveness with neighboring rivals and derail efforts to hit sales and export targets for the strategic rice exporting sector.

Renewed flare-ups of drayage driver discontent at Port Metro Vancouver have revived concerns that trucker disruption could return to the port despite moves taken to quell unrest.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s biggest container handler, saw its throughput volumes remain relatively flat in the first seven fiscal months, up just 0.3 percent year-over-year, hampered by off-and-on disruptions and slowing global trade, according to the newest port statistics compiled by JOC.com.

A C$285 million ($217 million) expansion of its intermodal yard will allow the largest container terminal at Port Metro Vancouver to maintain a speedy transfer of cargo between the docks and intermodal trains even when larger vessels discharging more containers begin calling the facility in the next few years.

There’s little hope the port of Itajai, Brazil’s second-largest container port, will receive emergency government dredging help, despite the severe siting that closed the port for days and still causes draft restrictions for container vessels.

Container throughput at Iran’s ports should grow by up to 25 percent annually over the next half decade as a confluence of benefits are realized from the expected relaxation of sanctions, a senior Iran-based industry researcher and commentator told JOC.com.

Baltic Stevedore Co. said its new nearly two-acre container yard for empties and an inspection point will speed up customs cargo processing and improve inland distribution at the Baltiysk container cargo terminal.

The port of Rotterdam has established a strategic partnership with the Bank of China focused mainly on Beijing’s “Belt and Road” strategy to boost trade links with Europe.

APM Terminals-operated Gujarat Pipavav Port recorded a 24 percent year-over-year decline in its container volumes during the second fiscal quarter, according to a company statement filed with the Bombay Stock Exchange.

After years of saying it was nearing completion of a new, privately-operated offshore container terminal, authorities at the Mumbai Port Trust are now looking to redesign and rebid the troubled project.

India’s biggest container handler, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, said the introduction of inter-terminal truck transfer procedures aimed at easing gate congestion have produced significant productivity gains for terminals, drayage companies and the trade in general.

APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust is aggressively working with truckers and container lines, and rolling out proactive measures aimed at setting new industry benchmarks for productivity and service levels.

Cambodia’s Phnomh Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) has launched a roadshow to lure investors for its Dec. 11 stock market listing aimed at raising funds for expansion to cope with rising trade volumes.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India's busiest container gateway, has revised plans to dredge its access channel to a draught of up to 56 feet and will now settle for 49 feet, citing high costs and a lack of incremental benefits for the decision.

Leaders of Brazil’s Port of Itajai say government officials are moving to provide emergency funds for dredging needed to clear silt that has closed the nation’s second-largest container port for nearly a week.

The Port of Manzanillo, Mexico’s largest, avoided major damage from Hurricane Patricia as the Category 5 storm apparently proved much less destructive than feared.