Port News

Maritime cargo activity at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma supported 48,100 direct, indirect and induced jobs and $4.1 billion in income and re-spending in the region, according to a study released Tuesday by Martin Associates.

Container port congestion has been a hot topic this year, with issues including late ship arrivals; strikes, or fears of strikes, and their impact; terminal projects; and adverse weather conditions popping up across the world. While some congestion is caused by short-term issues, certain world regions may be at greater risk of persistent congestion in the longer term.

Shippers are getting U.S.-bound cargo more easily through the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert as the surge in imports avoiding the U.S. West Coast due to labor talks subsides with the conclusion of the ocean peak season.

The Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) will speed up construction of new yard facilities and an inland container depot at its flagship Manila terminal, boosting the yard capacity by more than 20 percent.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Port of Seattle Monday signed an agreement to split the cost of a feasibility study for the deepening of the east and west waterways to 55 feet from the current depths of 34 and 51 feet.

Old Dominion Freight Line is expanding its U.S. intermodal drayage network at ports and inland railheads, strengthening the less-than-truckload carrier's connections with global shippers.

Ocean container carrier Hamburg Sud is opening a sales office in Gandhidham, India, to cater to the needs of its regular ship calls at the growing ports of Mundra and Pipavav.

On the back of yet another record-setting volume month at the Port of Savannah, the board of the Georgia Ports Authority is moving forward with measures to help the Savannah deal with the added volumes.

The Port of Antwerp is deepening its collaboration with the Port of Houston to include joint marketing and business development.

Busan Port handled 1.5 million 20-foot containers in August, its throughput growing 5.5 percent year-over-year on the back of strong transhipment volumes.

A Zim Integrated Shipping Services vessel that was the target of anti-Israel protesters left the Port of Oakland late Saturday without being worked when longshoremen refused to report to their jobs, citing health and safety concerns.

Cleanup efforts continued over the weekend at the Port of Los Angeles to remove wood fragments and timbers that were scattered into the water in the Sept 22 fire at the Pasha breakbulk terminal. The effort is expected to last for weeks.

One of the unintended consequences of the Los Angeles-Long Beach PierPass program, which includes a traffic mitigation fee on containers that move during the day peak-time hours, is that retailers send their trucks to the harbor at night specifically to avoid the fee.

About 40 anti-Israel protesters picketed the vessel Zim Shanghai Saturday morning at the Port of Oakland. The vessel was not worked during the day shift.

Chassis shortages, huge cargo discharges from big ships and a labor force that is stretched to the limit are contributing to a congestion problem that Los Angeles-Long Beach can’t seem to shake. But chassis are the main culprit, executives say.

Roughly 500 Nicaraguan farmers protested against the Nicaragua Canal this week, angered that the $40 billion plan includes the seizure of their land.

Port Canaveral has been cleared by the Treasury Department to proceed with the 35-year lease of the Florida port’s planned container terminal to United Arab Emirates-based Gulftainer.

The East Coast's fastest-growing port could double its capacity in the next 10 years and plans to knock out all U.S. East Coast competition along the way.

Australian dockworkers are planning to walk off the job next week at DP World terminals in Melbourne and Sydney as part of a contract dispute, according to a report.

The blossoming economy in Morocco is presenting opportunities for port investment, and officials are hoping good news could spur up to $8 billion in new port infrastructure.

Volumes at Port of Miami continued to dwindle in July, newly released numbers show, but port officials are hoping that throughput volumes will be boosted in subsequent months by new customers and improved trade opportunities.

American Trucking Associations Chairman Philip L. Byrd Sr. said the ATA is "bound and determined" to roll back changes to federal rules on drivers' hours of service, and to win revisions in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Complaince Safety, Accountability program .

Cargo headed to the U.S. from Cambodia will face added scrutiny due to what the U.S. Homeland Security calls inadequate security measures

Robert Curry Sr., president and CEO of California Cartage Co., was presented this week with the West Coast Connie award sponsored by the Containerization and Intermodal Institute. The award recognizes individual achievement in international trade and intermodal transportation.

A Dutch court has rejected a claim by ECT, Rotterdam’s largest container terminal operator, that the port authority acted unlawfully in awarding concessions for two giant terminals about to start operations to its rivals.

Boosted by larger vessels and a larger customer base, container volumes at the Port of Tacoma took off in August.

Shippers and ocean carriers already grappling with severe intermodal rail delays at India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port should expect more troubles due to the planned shutdown of container berths for two months beginning in mid-October for the installation of new quay cranes.

South American ports are struggling to keep up with explosive growth in demand. The average size of ships calling on the east coast of South America has increased 140 percent since 2006, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

Congestion at Hong Kong’s container terminals has reached a “critical stage” and the city’s container terminals and shipping lines have called on the government to urgently make land available for port logistics and additional barge berths.

Retailers today bemoan the fact that the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association negotiations have dragged on for more than four months still without conclusion. But they may not recall that it took the ILA and the U.S. Maritime Alliance 13 months to finalize their current contract in April 2013.

All 12 major Indian ports will become connected to railroads, which will also connect major factories and inland waterways, the union minister of road transport and highways and shipping, Nitin Gadkari, said today.

Container handling at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was back to normal by Wednesday’s night shift as the Los Angeles Fire Department declared Tuesday’s fire at the Pasha breakbulk terminal to be completely snuffed out.

The Justice Department’s announcement that it has no plans to challenge a proposed agreement between two major chassis lessors at Los Angeles-Long Beach is a key step forward in eradicating a severe problem with chassis availability that has contributed to terminal congestion at the ports all year.

Global container port traffic will top 840 million 20-foot-equivalent units by 2018, with Africa and greater China posting the fastest growth rates, according to shipping consultancy Drewry.

The Justice Department said it won’t challenge an agreement by two major container pools to share each other’s intermodal chassis in a “gray” pool in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Diesel particulate matter emissions from ships, trucks, trains and other big machines at the Port of Long Beach has declined by 82 percent since 2005, according to an annual analysis of the area’s air quality.

Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association will likely conclude without a strike or lockout, former Maersk port executive Tony Scioscia told the IANA conference in Long Beach this week.

Port executives at West Coast landlord ports say that when it comes to fixing congestion resulting from big ships and carrier alliances, the buck stops with them.

Joseph P. Ruddy has been appointed chief innovation officer at the Port of Virginia, and Shawn Tibbets will succeed him as chief operations officer.

The southern Italian port of Taranto, once a leading transhipment hub, faces an uncertain future after losing its last long-haul intercontinental service in the latest shake up in the fiercely competitive Mediterranean container market.