Port News

A strike by French dockworkers this week is causing severe disruption to carrier schedules as port calls to Le Havre and Marseilles-Fos are cut.

As India continues its transparency push for logistics costs, regulators are turning an eye toward the pricing practices followed by carriers for container yard-to-container yard shipments.

Container cargo growth at the 10 busiest ports on the US East Coast in the first 11 months of 2019 fell to its lowest level since 2016 as the US-China trade war and slowing global economic growth dampened demand.

New Jersey’s effort to crack down on what it sees as the misclassification of workers as independent contractors rather than employees continued Monday with the signing of six classification bills.

The new year has hardly gotten off to a quiet start for shippers using DP World’s four Australian terminals as industrial action by dock workers and an increase in port charges has thrown up fresh challenges.

India continues its march to bring transparency and efficiency to logistics costs, with the latest move allowing shippers to bypass carriers when settling terminal handling charges.

Any initiative to extend the marine terminal gate hours at the Port of New York and New Jersey would likely need to address the fact that many small and medium-sized warehouses that serve the port operate only during the day.

Port Tampa Bay believes 2020 will be a big year with an expansion of its container terminal, three weekly trans-Pacific vessel calls, and a major push to win cargo owners in the Interstate 4 corridor by selling the value of short hauls to maximize hours of service.

As transloading increases at US ports, RoadOne IntermodaLogistics is buying and building transload capacity, starting with Crown Transportation of Savannah, Georgia.

The Indian government is looking for a new roadmap to boost underutilized infrastructure at major ports, including increasing private participation in cargo operations.

Southern California judge delays decision by possibly two weeks in a key case that challenges the legality of truck driver classification bill known as AB5.

Federal officials are seeking public input on how best to test the emissions output of future heavy duty trucks to ensure levels of nitrogen oxide in the air continue to drop, while maintaining efficiency in the cargo delivery fleet.

After several years of piloting technology systems designed to reduce gate congestion, and marrying those systems with process improvements such as mandatory appointment systems, turn times in Los Angeles-Long Beach have reached near-record lows

The Panama Canal Authority is making operational changes so it can mitigate the effects of low water levels that have previously prevented fully-loaded, larger container ships from traversing the waterway.

The resumption of weekly liner service to Portland after a four-year absence will test the ability of the Oregon port to return to its heyday when it handled more than 300,000 TEU a year.

A California judge has sided with Cal Cartage in a lawsuit brought by the State of California, agreeing with a District Court restraining order issued Dec. 31 that AB5 does not apply to trucking because of federal preemption.

AB5-type legislation in New Jersey that truckers say will shrink the drayage fleet at the Port of New York and New Jersey won’t be enacted by the end of the current legislative session, but the sponsor said he’ll push to pass the bill in the next session.

Even if a permanent exemption for the California trucking industry is granted, trucking veterans say they expect more legislative attempts to define whether a driver is an employee or an independent contractor in the Golden State.

A jump in pilotage fees at China’s Yantian International Container Terminal come as Hong Kong is already under pressure to maintain its position as one of the world’s top 10 container ports amid a continual shift of volumes to nearby Chinese ports and some shift in manufacturing from China to southeast Asian nations.

US Department of Transportation grants totaling $1.7 million have been awarded to Gulf Coast projects that aim to reduce truck traffic by moving containers -- often filled with resin -- by barge through the ports of New Orleans and Houston.

A court showdown between the International Longshore & Warehouse Union and the former operator of Portland’s container terminal is set for Feb. 14. The ILWU will argue the $93.6 million jury award it faces for work slowdowns at the port between 2013-2017 is unjustified.

Ports in Florida and Virginia will receive $1.6 million in federal grants to bolster barge services designed to improve freight delivery times and alleviate traffic congestion on roadways.

Although the pace of Indian container growth has moderated in recent months, the latest trends suggest volumes will remain in positive territory through the end of the 2019-20 fiscal year in March.

El transporte de la carga hacia el interior desde los puertos de México seguirá siendo un desafío para los consignadores en 2020, y se espera que la capacidad de transporte por camión siga siendo limitada. Pero dos nuevas iniciativas podrían ayudar a redirigir la carga desde las carreteras.

The Port of Baltimore’s efforts to reduce pollution will get a boost with the award of a $1.8 million grant to replace older drayage trucks and other cargo-moving machinery with newer vehicles and equipment.

AB5 in California is pushing drayage companies and drivers toward the freight brokerage model, but that involves additional costs and legal challenges.

Truckers at the Port of New York and New Jersey can now plan their schedules based on traffic levels on key roads within the port, as seen in newly available video streams.

Dockworker and other logistics-related labor unions in Hong Kong are looking to stem a decline in membership that began after a 2013 strike that disrupted operations at Hutchison Port Holdings’ Hongkong International Terminals (HIT).

Confronting cyber threats and trying to minimize their risk is the focus of a new coalition of port stakeholders at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

As truckers in the Port of New York and New Jersey oppose a bill that would reshape how the owner-operator model is classified, two other bills that focus on classification are up for a vote in the New Jersey legislature.

Six new electric-powered rubber tire gantry cranes have arrived in Port of Miami’s APM terminal, key equipment meant to reduce carbon emissions and noise.

The country's government is looking to improve cargo fluidity at key seaports and border crossings — and reduce traffic on congested roads — via increased use of intermodal rail and a new marine highway program.

Women would be disproportionately affected by legislation in New Jersey and California that reshapes the classification process determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor, opponents say.

Volume growth at US Gulf Coast ports easily outpaced both the East and West Coasts in 2019, albeit from a smaller base, and port officials expect another strong year in 2020.

The US District Court has issued a last-minute reprieve for the trucking industry looking to block AB5, issuing a temporary restraining order on Dec. 31 to protect the industry until a Jan. 13 hearing.

While drayage operators in California await the fate of legal challenges to AB5, some are shifting to a freight-broker model, and owner-operators are becoming licensed as individual companies.

Despite an easing of trade tensions between the United States and China, shippers will continue to diversify their sourcing options to mitigate risk.

Ports on the US East Coast are expanding handling capacity and deepening harbors in anticipation of larger vessels and a continued shift in discretionary cargo away from the West Coast.

There is no denying the Indian government has in recent years demonstrated a stronger intent to recapture domestic cargo transshipped through Sri Lanka’s Colombo and other foreign hubs, but there appears to be no quick fix on the table in 2020.

Seaports on the US West Coast aim to regain some of the market share they have lost over the past five years to the East and Gulf coasts by building infrastructure and implementing technology needed to move cargo cheaper and faster.