<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A challenge to the Port of Los Angeles concession requirements for motor carriers moved a step closer to the U.S.</div>

A challenge to the Port of Los Angeles concession requirements for motor carriers moved a step closer to the U.S.

<div class="phx-topic">A challenge to the Port of Los Angeles concession requirements for motor carriers moved a step closer to the U.S. Supreme Court as the court invited the Office of the Solicitor General to weigh in on the case. The American Trucking Associations and the port each won a partial victory last year when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled several of the concession requirements in the port&amp;rsquo;s clean-trucks program were legal but struck down the most controversial requirement, which would have banned independent contractor drivers. The Teamsters union, which is attempting to organize drayage truck drivers at ports nationwide, supported the independent contractor ban. The Port of Los Angeles was attempting to limit drayage truck drivers to being direct employees of trucking companies. This would have made it legal for the Teamsters to attempt to organize the drivers. Although the ATA won on the independent contractor ban issue, the association appealed the 9th Circuit&amp;rsquo;s decision to the Supreme Court because it feared a dangerous precedent would be set by allowing a port to establish any requirements affecting a motor carrier&amp;rsquo;s rates, routes or services. <a href="http://www.joc.com/trucking/truckers-wont-brake-port-case ">The concession requirements the 9th Circuit accepted</a> included restrictions on off-street parking, proof of financial responsibility for motor carriers and maintenance and repair requirements.The Supreme Court had three options for addressing the ATA&amp;rsquo;s petition for review, said Curtis Whalen, executive director of the ATA&amp;rsquo;s intermodal conference. The court could have accepted the petition or it could have rejected the petition for review. The court chose a third option, which was to seek an opinion from the U.S. Solicitor General. Early in the litigation, Whalen noted, the United States filed an amicus brief in which it backed the ATA&amp;rsquo;s position that the concession requirements violate federal pre-emption law. The ATA considers the Supreme Court&amp;rsquo;s decision to seek an opinion from the Solicitor General as a positive development. Whalen said the court accepts only 2 percent of the petitions filed. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="mailto:bmongelluzzo@joc.com">bmongelluzzo@joc.com.</a> Follow him on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/billmongelluzzo">@billmongelluzzo.</a></div>

Trucking News

Rail News

Drayage

Trucking labor

Supreme Court Seeks Solicitor General's Opinion in Clean-Trucks Case

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Trucking company Old Dominion Freight Line opened a drayage facility in Oakland, Calif., expanding its container-hauling business to meet higher demand.
 
</div>

Trucking company Old Dominion Freight Line opened a drayage facility in Oakland, Calif., expanding its container-hauling business to meet higher demand.

<div class="phx-topic">Trucking company Old Dominion Freight Line opened a drayage facility in Oakland, Calif., expanding its container-hauling business to meet higher demand.Drayage shipments increased 35 percent in the first two months of 2012, ODFL said Friday. The carrier&amp;rsquo;s containerized freight was up 19 percent for all of 2011.The <a href="http://www.odfl.com/news/2012_news/2012.03.23.OaklandContainerDrayage.pdf">new Oakland drayage facility</a>, housed in the less-than-truckload carrier&amp;rsquo;s San Francisco service center, will serve ports, rail heads and container yards.ODFL already operates a Southern California drayage facility in Los Angeles, and earlier this year the <a href="http://www.joc.com/ltl/trucker-odfl-expands-trans-pacific-drayage-services">trucking operator opened a drayage center in Seattle</a>.The $1.9 billion multi-regional carrier has been bolting drayage and <a href="http://www.joc.com/trucking/road-ocean">export and import-oriented services</a> onto its core North American LTL business.The West Coast expansion &amp;ldquo;will help us better serve our customers who ship both globally and domestically,&amp;rdquo; said Wayne Bersch, director of container operations.<a href="http://www.joc.com/ltl/largest-ltl-carriers-outpaced-market-2011">ODFL was the fastest growing LTL carrier</a> in the U.S. in 2011, increasing LTL trucking revenue 25.7 percent, according to SJ Consulting Group estimates.The Thomasville, N.C.-based carrier now operates 15 drayage facilities. Last year, ODFL opened drayage facilities in Memphis, Tenn., Mobile, Ala., and Baltimore.Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:wcassidy@joc.com">wcassidy@joc.com</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/wbcassidy_joc">@wbcassidy_joc</a></div>

ODFL Opens Oakland Drayage Center

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity firm Littlejohn completed its previously announced acquisit</div>

Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity firm Littlejohn completed its previously announced acquisit

<div class="phx-topic">Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity firm Littlejohn completed <a href="http://www.joc.com/portsterminals/maersk-sells-chassis-leasing-subsidiary">its previously announced acquisition of Direct ChassisLink</a> from Maersk Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.At the same time as it closed the transaction, Littlejohn named a new management team for DCLI. William J. Shea, Jr., was named chairman and CEO, and Morten K. Nicolaisen was appointed president and COO of DCLI.Shea previously served as founder and CEO of Bay Cities Leasing, an intermodal equipment provider that is now part of GECC. He continues to serve as a director of J. B. Hunt Transportation Services.Before the closing of the DCLI acquisition, Nicolaisen served as CFO of Maersk Inc. He served in a variety of management roles at Maersk for 25 years.Ernie R. Durando, Jr., was named executive vice president of operations for DCLI, building on a 28-year career of operational leadership roles at Maersk.Contact Peter T. Leach at <a href="mailto:pleach@joc.com">pleach@joc.com</a>. Follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/petertleach">@petertleach</a>.</div>

Container lines

Forwarding

Littlejohn Completes Direct ChassisLink Acquisition

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A new Department of Transportation report detailing the need to spend $101 billion annually, plus inflation, over the next 20 years to maintain the U.S.</div>

A new Department of Transportation report detailing the need to spend $101 billion annually, plus inflation, over the next 20 years to maintain the U.S.

<div class="phx-topic">A new Department of Transportation report detailing the need to spend $101 billion annually, plus inflation, over the next 20 years to maintain the U.S. highway system illustrates the gap between planned and needed infrastructure investment. Up to $170 billion a year would need to be spent over the next two decades if the U.S. wants to improve its infrastructure system, not just maintain it, according to the report. The release of the report comes after the <a href="http://www.joc.com/washington/senate-approves-highway-bill">Senate approved a two-year, $109 billion surface transportation plan</a><a href="http://www.joc.com/washington/senate-approves-highway-bill">,</a> which by most accounts would maintain current spending levels.&amp;ldquo;President Obama is committed to building the transportation infrastructure we need for tomorrow by putting people to work today,&amp;rdquo; Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. &amp;ldquo;This report shows how important it is to get started now rebuilding America&amp;rsquo;s roads, bridges and transit systems.&amp;rdquo; Obama&amp;rsquo;s budget for fiscal 2013 calls for spending $305 billion on highway programs over the next six years, a 34 percent increase over previous budget authorizations. But <a href="http://www.joc.com/government-regulation/paved-over-intentions">few transportation analysts expect Obama&amp;rsquo;s spending plan to take hold</a>, particularly because of Republicans&amp;rsquo; dislike of using money gained through the winding down of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Total government spending between 2000 and 2008 rose 48.4 percent to $91.1 billion, according to the 2012 Status of the Nation&amp;rsquo;s Highways, Bridges, and Transit: Conditions and Performance report. The <a href="http://www.fta.dot.gov/about/about_FTA_5208.html">report will reside here</a> when the DOT releases it digitally. Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mailto:mszakonyi@joc.com">mszakonyi@joc.com.</a> Follow him on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/mszakonyi_joc">@mszakonyi_joc.</a></div>

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

DOT Report Underscores Need for Infrastructure Investment

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">State legislators from both sides of the Hudson River will hold a joint hearing in April to examine what they are calling the &amp;ldquo;lack of accountability&amp;rdquo; of the Port Authority of New York and</div>

State legislators from both sides of the Hudson River will hold a joint hearing in April to examine what they are calling the &ldquo;lack of accountability&rdquo; of the Port Authority of New York and

<div class="phx-topic">State legislators from both sides of the Hudson River will hold a joint hearing in April to examine what they are calling the “lack of accountability” of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.The hearing will be co-chaired by New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski, chairman of the Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee, and by Sen. Charles J. Fuschillo, chairman of New York’s Senate Transportation Committee.Wisniewski and Fuschillo decided to call the hearing in response to last fall’s controversial toll hike, along with internal and external audits critical of agency spending and other practices.The hearing, which will be held on April 20 at the Center for the Arts at the College of Staten Island, was scheduled following the release of an auditor’s report commissioned by the port authority of the agency’s management and employee benefits and pay scale, before signing off on bridge and tunnel toll and PATH fare increases that took effect in September.The toll hike has already cut into the volume of containers handled by the New York Container Terminal on Staten Island, because shippers have balked at the additional surcharges assessed by port truckers to compensate for the tolls they have to pay for draying containers across the Goethals Bridge between New Jersey and Staten Island.[Editorial note: image removed/no longer available]For more on the Port of New York and New Jersey tolls: <a href="http://www.joc.com/portsterminals/whom-tolls-hurt">For Whom the Tolls Hurt</a>Contact Peter T. Leach at <a href="mailto:pleach@joc.com">pleach@joc.com</a>. Follow him on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter/petertleach">@petertleach</a>.</div>

Port News

NJ, NY Lawmakers to Address Port Tolls

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The world of LTL is slow to embrace change. Business anachronisms permeate current supply chain processes. These vestiges of the way things used to work define the LTL freight transportation procurement process of many modern shippers.David Knuth, logistics specialist at IEWC, a global supplier of cable and wire based in Wisconsin, is happy to have modernized the RFP process, automating the entire LTL bidding procedure with Bid$ense, SMC³’s automated truckload and LTL freight transportation sourcing solution. But when prompted, he can still recall what once was.In his previous job, a large part of his duties were consumed by creating an intermodal bid package for carriers. In a spreadsheet, Knuth detailed the company’s volumes lane by lane, taking care to delete any errant keystrokes or misleading data. He would then email out the information to each carrier, taking time to respond to detailed technical questions about the spreadsheet data. Finally, he had to compile all the results, create an algorithm that would compare the carriers on each lane, and award the business.“It was a huge undertaking. It took about four months to do,” Knuth said of the old process. “It was almost a full-time job for that part of the year, every year.”In his new job at IEWC, he sat down with Bid$ense on day one and was amazed at the capabilities. Knuth had never before used a bid tool. SMC³’s latest versions of Bid$ense automate the process even further, taking truckload and LTL RFPs entirely online. The tool draws on RFP best-practices protocols to streamline the bidding communication process, enabling bidding carriers to respond accurately and promptly to shipper requests. The solution also does all the distribution work automatically, electronically submitting shipper bid data to carriers based on their actual service capabilities and performance records. Carriers are alerted with timely prompts for RFP deliverables, so shippers aren’t waiting by the phone for responses.Another benefit of automating the process is the data-cleansing assistance. When Knuth sent spreadsheets to carriers, data errors might cloud the bidding process; he might have to resend data or simply accept a price that did not truly reflect the costs of doing business. Data cleansing is incredibly beneficial, he said.The spreadsheet technique also made bidding analysis an onerous task. Since Bid$ense automates and streamlines the entire RFP process, intensive examination is now simple. SMC³ knows that each bid has more than one best outcome. With uniform responses from each carrier, shippers can quickly rank results and create an unlimited quantity of what-if scenarios to make the optimal procurement decision.Jesse Burnett of Central Garden &amp; Pet experiences many of the same benefits. Founded in 1980, Central Garden &amp; Pet has spent the last three decades growing from a small garden supply company to a provider of a range of products from dog chews and bird seed to soil supplements and natural insecticides. For much of its life, the company shipped these disparate goods via LTL and truckload carriers to retailers throughout the country, relying on each business unit to negotiate directly with their freight transportation providers. This arrangement worked fairly well for a small company, but as Central Garden &amp; Pet expanded, leadership decided to consolidate decision making.Burnett helped centralize the transportation decision making in 2015 with SMC³’s Bid$ense. Before Bid$ense, every business unit operated independently as far as negotiating with carriers.“There were a lot of different things just floating around,” he said. “We didn’t have master agreements in place; no national pricing at all. The pricing from carriers was just all over the place, depending on where you were.”The transformations he saw with Bid$ense were immediate. Burnett has been using the tool about every other year since its implementation at the company. Central Garden and Pet’s $19.6 million 2019 LTL bid saved the company just more than 9 percent when compared to its historical average. For Burnett, though, bid automation extends far beyond savings.“We knew that we weren’t getting the best pricing offer from our carriers just because nothing was centralized,” he continued. “We knew that if we combined everything from all these business units and paired it with one corporate offering, then it would drive some cost benefit with it.”When the company initially decided to centralize bid procurement, executives researched a number of different methodologies and technologies. In the end, though, Burnett found that Bid$ense was both widespread and well known, and that his carrier partners already knew how to use the application. Burnett also highlighted the data-cleansing process as a major benefit, saying the rigorous process ensures that carriers always return the best price.“It definitely has helped drive savings,” he said. “Any time you go out there and you drive that competitiveness with the carriers and they know they’re in a bid environment, it seems to sharpen their pencils.”Transportation procurement is an integral part of the modern supply chain. With Bid$ense, shippers can develop a strategic implementation plan that saves them time and money, but also helps them create strong relationships with their carrier partners. These carriers appreciate the solution’s data-cleansing process; when carriers receive a complete shipment history and future volume forecast, they don’t have to guess on pricing. Carriers that receive more data from shippers get a complete picture of that shipper’s freight, allowing them to accurately plan instead of simply preparing for the worst-case scenario. Clean data presented through an automated system can lead to both bigger shipment savings and a lasting partnership between carrier and customer.Whether customers are looking to streamline over-the-road transportation bidding by automating the RFP process or create an entirely new, centralized sourcing process, Bid$ense has the analytical horsepower to get the job done.SMC³ 2020 Customer Case Study

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

SSA Marine Mexico has made significant strides in modernizing its infrastructure at the Port of Manzanillo, investing $15 million to enhance operational efficiency and sustainability at its facilities. This move is part of the company's broader strategy to remain at the forefront of the shipping and logistics industry. •	Strengthening Sustainability with Advanced Technology <figure class="joc_admin__inline-image-position-left joc_admin__inline-image-size-medium" data-figure-size="medium" data-figure-position="left"><img src="/content-assets/1730488295264_Cranes%20arrival%20to%20TEC%20I.png" alt="Cranes arrival to TEC I" class="joc_admin__inline-image-inherit"></figure> In July, SSA Marine Mexico added seven state-of-the-art E-RTG (Electric Rubber-Tired Gantry) cranes to its fleet, valued at $14 million. These advanced cranes were distributed across its two terminals: four cranes were assigned to the Multipurpose Terminal, and three to the Specialized Container Terminal I. What sets these cranes apart is their dual-operation capability, allowing them to function either on electric power or diesel fuel. This innovation plays a critical role in reducing the environmental impact of operations, contributing to a 7% increase in energy efficiency. This efficiency improvement is equivalent to eliminating nearly 4,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually, underscoring SSA Marine Mexico's commitment to sustainability. Through this acquisition, SSA Marine Mexico not only enhances its cargo-handling capabilities but also reinforces its leadership in integrating cutting-edge, eco-friendly technology in the maritime industry. The company continues to push the boundaries of efficiency and sustainability, ensuring long-term value for both its customers and the environment. •	Upgraded Facilities to Meet Growing Demand <figure class="joc_admin__inline-image-position-left joc_admin__inline-image-size-medium" data-figure-size="medium" data-figure-position="left"><img src="/content-assets/1730488350634_Multipurpose%20terminal.png" alt="Multipurpose Terminal" class="joc_admin__inline-image-inherit"></figure> In addition to the new cranes, SSA Marine Mexico has completed crucial modernization and repair work across its Multipurpose Terminal and Specialized Facility at the Port of Manzanillo. This $1 million investment targeted critical infrastructure enhancements, focusing on both structural integrity and operational functionality. Key improvements included leveling approximately 12,000 square meters in the dock area, along with the removal of outdated concrete curbs and asphalt layers. The upgraded space now features high-resistance pavers designed to optimize water drainage and prevent pooling, ensuring safer and more efficient operations. Moreover, the Specialized Facility saw significant upgrades, including the leveling of key warehouse areas to facilitate smoother cargo handling processes. These infrastructure improvements directly enhance the handling of TEUS (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit containers), further demonstrating SSA Marine Mexico's unwavering commitment to continuous modernization, operational safety, and efficiency. With these initiatives, SSA Marine Mexico is well-positioned to meet the growing demands of the global shipping industry while setting new standards in sustainable port operations. LINK:<a href="https://www.ssamarine.mx/ssa-ing/index" rel="noreferrer" class="joc_admin__link"> https://www.ssamarine.mx/ssa-ing/index</a>

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Maritime

SSA Marine Mexico Modernizes Facilities with $15 Million Investment 

If there’s one immutable truth in the world of logistics, it’s this: LTL is an inherently complex form of transportation. Tariffs, rates, DIM weights, transit times — it’s enough to confuse even seasoned logistics professionals. The solution to this knowledge gap has historically been on-the-job training or university supply chain education, but for a variety of reasons there is now a pressing need for third-party, remote LTL training that prepares logistics workers for transportation success. Global Scope Can Overlook Local Intricacies In the past, professionals looking to move into a supply chain career learned about the basics of supply chain from universities. However, many of these college supply chain programs are now global in scope, focusing on worldwide supply chain management instead of the intricacies of specialized domestic transportation. And even these programs, which used to be widespread, are becoming less common. LTL is not an industry of broad-brush strokes; supply chain professionals really need a pointillistic understanding of the logistics of LTL in order to excel in the industry. Accelerating Need for Dedicated LTL Education This lack of specified training put the onus on employers to prepare new hires with the LTL knowledge needed to do their jobs. Dedicated LTL study is a necessity, not a luxury. At the same time, changes in LTL and the broader supply chain world are accelerating. The reliance on e-commerce has ballooned since the start of the pandemic, and last-mile LTL shipments and related e-commerce strains on the supply chain won’t diminish once social distancing abates. That genie isn’t going back into the bottle. So supply chain employers need logistics workers that are fully versed in all aspects of the industry, ready to solve unique shipping and delivery problems based on their extensive supply chain knowledge But why care about LTL? It’s been reported that some shippers in today’s world are no longer concerned with what mode is used to ship their goods. A Multimodal Approach Ensures On-Time Delivery This mode agnosticism means supply chain stakeholders have to be well versed in all modes of transportation. As unforeseen weather events and other disruptions, such as protests, become more common, savvy logistics employees will need to be armed with familiarity of all modes, not just the most popular, to ensure that freight is delivered on time, without damage, and in the most financially expedient way possible. Offerings like SMC³’s LTL online education courses cover a wide range of topics from LTL basics and operations to more advanced concepts like pricing analytics and transportation law. The company also has plans to continually refresh content, adding new expert presenters and taking the feedback of students to make the courses even better as time goes on. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://logisticstrainingcenter.com/smc3-courses/" rel="noreferrer" class="joc_admin__link">SMC³’s LTL Online Education program</a>&nbsp;and view the 2021 hybrid schedule, featuring live industry experts,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.smc3.com/onlinelearning2021/" rel="noreferrer" class="joc_admin__link">here.</a>

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Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Two technology companies focused on port drayage and container chassis services, Advent and eModal, merged to form Advent Intermodal Solutions.
 
</div>

Two technology companies focused on port drayage and container chassis services, Advent and eModal, merged to form Advent Intermodal Solutions.

<div class="phx-topic">Two technology companies focused on port drayage and container chassis services, Advent and eModal, merged to form Advent Intermodal Solutions.The combined companies say they will offer an integrated intermodal logistics product known as the eModal Intermodal Community Suite, or eModal ICS.Advent Intermodal said its goal is to provide a single comprehensive set of tools, starting with the merger of eModal.com and Chassis.com into a single portal.The company&amp;rsquo;s target customers include chassis and equipment providers, drayage companies and cargo owners or shippers moving goods in containers.Its tools include appointment scheduling and chassis management software used by companies such as TRAC Intermodal and PIERPASS in Los Angeles and Long Beach.eModal ICS will be available as both an online software-as-a-service subscription and as a customized system tailored and branded specifically for the customer.The new system will combine features such as a truck and driver registry, container availability, appointments, DVIR and M&amp;R and chassis rental billing into one site.The merger has been in the works for a year, said Carl D&amp;rsquo;Emilio, president of Advent Intermodal Solutions and formerly president of Advent, Murray Hill, N.J.&amp;ldquo;I am excited that this simple idea has now successfully culminated,&amp;rdquo; D&amp;rsquo;Emilio said.Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:wcassidy@joc.com">wcassidy@joc.com</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/wbcassidy_joc">@wbcassidy_joc</a></div>

Intermodal providers

Technology Firms Merge Intermodal Portals, Products

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">MIAMI -- A convoy of close to 200 trucks snarled traffic in Miami's commercial and business district</div>

MIAMI -- A convoy of close to 200 trucks snarled traffic in Miami's commercial and business district

<div class="phx-topic">MIAMI -- A convoy of close to 200 trucks snarled traffic in Miami's commercial and business districts today as drivers protested escalating diesel fuel prices.Though the organizers stated in advance that the protest was not aimed at the Port of Miami but, instead, at getting federal mandatory fuel surcharges for commercial truckers, it dramatically reduced gate moves at the Port of Miami."We had only about 35 moves the first two hours," said Hilda Torres, the liaison with the port's truckers at the Port of Miami Terminal Operating Company. "After that we stopped counting. Their protest has had a significant effect on the port but we expect the gate moves to return to normal either later today or in the morning. They were very organized in planning this and we knew they would be out today."The convoy was organized by the Teamsters and provided the first tangible evidence that the union's locals 769 and 901 are making inroads in organizing many of the 3,000 independent truckers who haul containers to and from the region's ports."Owner-drivers who haul containers from America's ports are some of the most exploited workers in the nation, working long hours for low pay, " said Herman Vazquez president of Local 901.The bobtail drivers were organized and assembled along Okeechobee Road in Western Dade County. They were given protest posters to display depicting a truck driver with a gas pump stuck in his back, and given instructions to follow a Hialeah Gardens police escort once they fell in line.Organizers had promised a 20-mile convoy ending at Miami city hall, but while the protest probably was never longer than four miles, it caused a jam on interstate highways and stopped all traffic between downtown Miami and the park-like city hall in rustic Cocoanut Grove.There the drivers who could find a place to park joined a rally asking Congress for the mandatory surcharge.In July 2004, independent truckers boycotted the Port of Miami until a lawsuit by the port's terminal operators forced a return to work and negotiations over working conditions. Those negotiations were concluded earlier this year with an agreement from the truckers never to boycott again in exchange for POMTOC's agreement that they should have the right to organize and seek better working conditions.</div>

Truckers protest in Miami

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">MIAMI - A hold was put on more import cargo as the Port of Miami continues to clear thousands of con</div>

MIAMI - A hold was put on more import cargo as the Port of Miami continues to clear thousands of con

<div class="phx-topic">MIAMI - A hold was put on more import cargo as the Port of Miami continues to clear thousands of containers that stacked up during a two-week strike by truckers.The Port of Miami Terminal Operating Co. on Tuesday put more hold orders on cargo from the following vessels: CMA CGM Arno, MOL Initiative, CMA CGM Rhone, CSAV New York, and TMM Guanajuato (40-foot containers only).The terminal earlier said it would hold cargo from the OOCL Faith, OOCL Fortune, MSC Arizona, MSC Aniello Villa de Taurus, Libra Santos, Katsuragi, and Lykes Achiever.POMTOC on Monday said it would waive some charges for containers that sat during the drivers' protest, either by extending free time or postponing a vessel's first free day, but only for vessels whose free time had not expired by June 24 or arrived after the start of the boycott.The terminal said the held containers will not be available "until such time that we can adequately prepare for their delivery."The terminal plans to deal with the 8,000-container quandary "on a first arrived/first served basis." On Monday, POMTOC Chief Executive, Brooks Royster, said it could take two weeks to reduce the backlog to normal levels.In an e-mail message, Javier Miranda, senior manager of customer services, advised forwarders, customs brokers and their trucking companies to check the POMTOC Forecast information portal to review the status of their cargo.A federal judge on July 9 granted a temporary injunction ending the two-week protest. A hearing on a permanent injunction is scheduled for Thursday.</div>

North American ports

Miami puts hold orders on more cargo

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