Latest news

With its larger, consolidated terminals handling larger volumes from bigger ship calls, the Port of Oakland is considering officially expanding its gate hours for the first time, its head said today.

Both Maersk Line and Hamburg Sud received top marks as the most reliable container carriers in the third quarter, Drewry's Carrier Performance Insight shows, as industry-wide reliability began to recover in October.

Starting Dec. 18, U.S. truck drivers in most cases will no longer have to file a report if an inspection of their equipment shows no maintenance issues and safety defects, saving the industry nearly $1.7 billion annually, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Beneficial cargo owners are still navigating the perils of U.S. West Coast port congestion, as they attempt to bring inventory in for the spring season.

The continuing congestion and delays affecting West Coast ports are reaching the point where it may leave the type of lasting negative impression that followed the 10-day work stoppage in 2002.

The Port of New York and New Jersey is under the gun to improve productivity and truck turn times before the mid-2016 raising of the Bayonne Bridge “almost instantaneously” brings a new generation of larger ships to East Coast ports.

An amendment that would suspend the current 34-hour restart provision in the truck driver hours of service rules pending further study is buried deep within the omnibus spending bill being crafted by Congress. Will it survive as Congress struggles to pass spending legislation before midnight Dec. 12 to avoid a government shutdown?

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission will launch a website soon that will serve as a clearinghouse for port congestion surcharges, following industry confusion over planned U.S. West Coast surcharges, Commissioner Michael A. Khouri said today.

Mergers and acquisitions and soon-to-launch alliances are changing the rankings of the JOC Top 40 Container Carriers in U.S. containerized trade. Volume increased 2.7 percent year-over-year to 23.7 million 20-foot-equivalent units in the first nine months of 2014, with Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. accounting for 21.4 percent of total trade.

Part of the reason South Atlantic ports haven’t seen as much congestion as their Northeast and Southern California counterparts is because the operating port model is more prevalent there, Federal Maritime Commissioner Michael Khouri said today.

DB Schenker, the logistics arm of Germany’s Deutsche Bahn, has opened a new sales office in Vapi, India, to serve its customers in the country’s western region.

Almost half the container vessels arriving at the Asian ports of Ho Chi Minh City, Manila and Nhava Sheva between Oct. 15 and Nov. 15 were delayed more than 12 hours, and one third of the arriving ships faced delays of more than 24 hours, CargoSmart has found.

Vietnam’s increasing role in the final assembly of products was evident in the October trade figures that showed Chinese exports to Vietnam soaring 52.6 percent year-over-year to $61 billion.

Hong Kong’s long-discussed container terminal 10 may finally be axed after the latest port master plan study found that throughput growth had slowed to such a degree that it was not financially or economically viable.

The global supply-demand gap in container shipping will widen significantly in 2015, putting pressure on freight rates, Citi said in a report released on Monday.

Claudio Bozzo, who has been president and CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Co. (USA) for the last decade, has moved to Geneva to take over a new position as global chief operating officer of MSC, the world’s second largest container line.

New revenues would be needed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to fund a proposed cross-harbor barge or rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, Fitch Ratings said on Monday.

For some shippers, the Los Angeles-Long Beach ports provided the ultimate fake-out this year. They diverted cargo away from the largest container complex in the Americas in the spring, and then brought back imports through the ports after months of seeing no disruption— only to get slammed by the worst congestion in years.

The Nigerian Ports Authority will turn to a task force to help identify root causes of congestion at the Lagos port complex as volumes continue to grow.

Midsize trucking companies are increasingly bullish on the economic outlook and their ability to hire new employees, including drivers, in 2015, according to GE Capital Transportation Services.

Russian has tapped Vladivostok as the country’s first “free” port, in an attempt to boost the Russian economy besieged by lower oil prices and sanctions from Western countries.

As the world’s first 19,000 TEU ship sets sail on its maiden voyage on Monday, concerns are being raised that mega container ships pose a substantial risk to cargo and crew due to their sheer size and inability of supporting infrastructure to come to their aid in the event of an accident.

Fuel prices out of Rotterdam, a leading global indicator of the broader fuel market, dropped over 10 percent last week, the latest in a downward spiral that began in July.

CenterPoint Properties plans to expand its Pacific Northwest footprint beyond the nearly $50 million it recently spent on two properties adjacent to the Port of Seattle.

Foreign container throughput at Pearl River Delta ports grew 12.8 percent in November, the highest monthly growth in more than two years and putting, according to data reported by Citi Research on Monday.

Descartes Systems Group has acquired two companies for about $11.8 million that will help the Waterloo, Ontario-based transportation technology provider expand its European reach.

Congress could greatly reduce the threat of labor slowdowns and lockouts at the nation’s ports by putting longshore worker labor agreements under the purview of the Railway Labor Act, an economist and former Congressional Budget Office director said.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. has lifted its congestion surcharge of $100 per TEU imposed earlier on shipments moving from Europe to Sohar, saying congestion at Oman's largest port is easing.

Transplace is expanding in Western Canada and Quebec as U.S.-Canada cross-border traffic speeds up, along with the U.S. and Canadian economies.

Congestion at Asia ports this is year is continuing to force intra-Asia carriers to charter feeder ships more frequently and for shorter time periods in order to maintain weekly schedules.

Singapore-based Global Logistic Properties took a break from its rapid China expansion to partner with GIC in acquiring one of the largest logistics real estate portfolios in the US for $8.1 billion.

Stopping at the congested Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex in October made container ships an average of 3.4 days late at the next port of call, industry analysis has shown.

Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association were held on Sunday as the two parties completed a weekend of face-to-face talks.

The congestion that crippled Los Angeles and Long Beach this year and tarnished the reputation of the largest U.S. port complex will linger for awhile longer, but the ports’ chief executives are confident Southern California will once again be the gateway of choice for trade with Asia.

The use of natural gas as a marine fuel that allows vessel operators to comply with the low-sulfur fuel requirements of the North American Emissions Control Area is beginning to catch on in the container shipping industry.

Contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association were underway today and are expected to continue through Sunday as negotiators look ahead to the ILWU caucus that is scheduled for Dec. 15.

Contract negotiations were held Friday between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, and talks would most likely continue into the weekend, according to a PMA spokesman.

Most of the global shipping lines support the low-sulfur fuel requirement that will take effect on Jan. 1 in the North American trades, even though their operating costs will go up.

This week’s top 10 stories on JOC.com makes one thing abundantly clear: All eyes are on the U.S. West Coast labor negotiation. The top three stories all centered around negotiations between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Several other stories stayed on the familiar topic of West Coast port congestion and the shakeups it has caused in supply chains. Several other business news items also crept into the list.

Two carriers announced general rate increases targeting trans-Atlantic shipments to the Port of New York-New Jersey.