Maritime

Cargo gateways across the US Southeast will invest upwards of $850 million in 2021 on a wide range of enhancements that will allow terminals to handle multiple vessels of 14,000 TEU and above simultaneously.

National Shipping of America (NSA) made its inaugural call to Port Everglades last week after the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) designated the South Florida port as part of the country’s so-called Marine Highway system on Jan. 8.

Shippers can complain, but pricing power — at least for now — has shifted away from shippers due to carrier consolidation and growing capacity discipline seen most dramatically in the swift spring withdrawals following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. That puts pressure on shipper to engage more with carrier not less.

Importers of higher-value cargo from Asia have been better able to withstand higher spot rates, forcing some shippers of lower-value cargo out of the market completely.

Without easing the air draft limits under the Tsing Ma bridge, ships calling at Hong Kong and the western Shenzhen ports face a lengthy transit south of Hong Kong through Chinese waters.

The long-standing connections between CMA CGM and Yilport were again on display with the carrier’s former ports and terminals division head joining the Turkish port operator.

Despite an acceleration in COVID-19 cases among longshoremen in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, waterfront employers say there are enough general dockworkers to handle near-record container volumes, although a shortage of trained equipment operators is a problem.

Rapid collaboration by stakeholders as 2020 wound down helped prevent more than half a billion dollars in tariffs from being imposed on goods waiting at anchorage off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The acquisition of DDI bolsters RoadOne's 53-foot domestic container business and transloading capabilities on the East Coast as import volumes rise.

US imports from Europe have been rising steadily since August, with the trans-Atlantic so far able to shrug off the severe disruption experienced on the trades out of Asia.

Attempts to slow travel for the two-week Lunar New Year celebration come amid new COVID-19 outbreaks in northern mainland China that triggered lockdowns in 11 regions.

The Maersk incident comes less than two months after the ONE Apus saw more than 1,900 containers lost or damaged during a trans-Pacific voyage, and has one analyst questioning whether the industry might have a structural problem with stowage on larger ships.

Amid continuous double-digit year-over-year increases in imports, the Port of Los Angeles will financially reward terminal operators that achieve key metrics in improving cargo velocity.

The World Bank and International Association of Ports and Harbors are urging ports and maritime ecosystems to quickly find public and private solutions to digitize operations and build data-sharing initiatives to bolster trade growth.

In a further sign of a tumultuous market, UHL's newest "Eco-Lifter" will deliver containers to Europe on its maiden voyage.

While an extra-loader move is significant, it remains to be seen whether that would be enough to balance out the needs of Indian exporters when cargo rolling has become a critical issue on high-demand routes.

Shippers facing a challenging ocean freight environment in 2021 are being urged to develop a plan to tackle a particularly thorny operational aspect in the industry: container allocations.

After a likely decline in annual container volumes at the Port of New York and New Jersey in 2020, the largest US East Coast gateway is focusing on improving efficiency, including through better data sharing with truckers.

A state-wide commitment to renewables is behind a massive increase in project cargo tonnage at the Northern California port of Stockton.

Import volumes have remained strong into the new year and may be accelerating, with some saying January’s imports will be even higher than December’s.

Rhein left a powerful legacy in shaping the careers of generations of executives, and instilling a commitment to quality, value, and innovation that is reflected today in ocean carriers’ pursuit of value creation.

While mainliners active in India trades continue to tout their high investment in empty repositioning to rebalance inventory flow, cargo interests argue those efforts have been suboptimal and at a rate vastly incommensurate with the demand growth.

The never ending peak season demand on major trades out of Asia has placed unseasonal demands on carriers and container terminals in the region, with increasing numbers of containers being rolled at the regional hubs.

A rebound in container volume at the port of Antwerp came in the second half, when Europe’s unexpectedly strong recovery kept ships full and terminals busy from July for the rest of the year.

High box rates and congestion woes are driving container-side shippers to the breakbulk sector for relief.

Agricultural exporters say operational bottlenecks at the Port of Oakland caused by late vessel arrivals from Los Angeles and Long Beach are even worse than they were in the fall.

A fourth quarter operational update from OOCL gives the first glimpse of what to expect from carriers as they head for a highly profitable year.

A partnership between widely used rate management software provider Portrix and container line digital quoting platform BlueX Trade is yet another sign of the need for forwarders to get direct access to digital quotes offered by carriers.

With the addition of dedicated installation capacity, SAL will target European offshore development, maintenance, and decommissioning.

In the current heated environment in container shipping, one should be careful not to confuse the operational problem with the contractual problem.

Kip Louttit, executive director at the maritime exchange, said that 18 more vessels are slated to call the port complex over the next three days, as ships at anchor outpace ships at berth.

With most feeder services in the Pearl River Delta currently suspended, the movement of containers to and from Hong Kong and Shenzhen is being severely disrupted.

The Quebec government joins the Canada Infrastructure Bank in supporting the planned marine terminal Contrecoeur, as the latter announced in 2019 that it would invest up to C$300 million toward the project.

Agricultural exporter Scoular will open a transload facility this summer to export soybeans out of the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina, adding to its existing relationships with ports in Virginia, South Carolina, and Southern California.

Truck turn times and container dwell times deteriorated further in Los Angeles-Long Beach in December, with even the best-performing terminals struggling to handle the volumes.

While signing so-called early-bird contracts is not a new phenomenon in the eastbound trans-Pacific, this year is different because the early signings are more frequent and driven more by space guarantees than freight rate considerations.

Rising short-term charter rates and recovering cargo volumes are leading ro-ro carriers to reactivate ships in cold lay-up since early 2020.

With importers of lower-value cargo in the EU unwilling to pay record rates, some factories in China will close early and delay the shipping until after the holidays.

Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest apparel exporter, saw activity come to a near halt last spring during the initial wave of COVID-19.

Some shipping executives believe that with trans-Pac eastbound space sold out through Chinese New Year, the ongoing impact of the pandemic on buying patterns favoring household goods versus travel and leisure will extend the import surge well into 2021.