International ports

Dismissing writs filed by BCO groups, an appeals court in New Delhi ruled that government advisories on extended free time and penalty waivers were more in the form of general advice rather than a binding directive.

Ports in southeast Asia need to upgrade their terminal capacity in order to handle the expected shift in sourcing away from China that is being triggered by COVID-19 supply chain disruptions.

Cargo owners argue the waiver on port storage fees will ease the the container backlog at Chittagong marine terminals, but some shipping agents disagree.

US tariffs on electronics goods produced in China continue to push production and assembly of some electronics to Southeast Asia and Mexico, with the latter grabbing a growing share of laptop computers and televisions due to its proximity to the US market.

The COVID-19 lockdown in Bangladesh has shippers contending with congestion fees, while carriers push back against a government request to drop detention charges.

European ports have been hit harder by blank sailings than other regions, according to a survey by the World Ports Sustainability Program and the International Association of Ports and Harbors.

The Panama Canal sees COVID-19 accelerating the long-building trends of global container trade becoming more regional.

Bangladesh’s Shipping Ministry pushed customs authorities to relax rules governing what type of cargo could be moved to private off-dock space amid growing pressure to relieve congestion at Chittagong.

The trade group that represents foreign carriers in India says the latest inventory numbers at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust suggest a supply chain bottleneck of alarming proportions is beginning to take shape.

Under Indian government directives, terminal stakeholders have stepped up gate activity in recent days in order to avert widespread congestion developing.

It was a solid first quarter for Antwerp, but the production and supply chain disruption being caused by COVID-19 will be felt at the international hub in the second quarter.

Bangladesh will waive Chittagong port fees as yard storage approaches 92 percent capacity, but carriers are putting shippers on the hook for reefer-related charges.

The Chittagong customs office is open just two hours a day during the lockdown period and is only releasing cargoes carrying food and medicines, meaning containers carrying non-essential goods are backing up in storage.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and its largest tenant, GCT Canada, agree that Vancouver risks a scenario in which marine terminals will be clogged within roughly 10 years, but they disagree on how to add capacity.

A steep drop in cargo through Mexico’s ports in March is just one of several factors roiling the country’s logistics sector, which may see low freight volumes for months, executives say.

JNPT’s own terminal has suspended ground rent charges until March 31, while PSA’s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) is offering an additional three free days.

ICDs in January raised container handling charges, but shippers and container lines balked at the increase, which eventually led to the service halt.

A preliminary assessment by the Port of Montreal predicts cargo volumes could fall as much as 13 percent in 2020, in a sign of how the Chinese slowdown continues to disrupt supply chains even as ports prepare for a drop in cargo due to Europe’s economic slump.

A reprimand from Indian officials comes after the Container Shipping Lines Association urged local appeals courts to challenge a customs ruling permitting shippers to pay terminal handling charges directly to terminal operators.

Shipping and logistics executives said Tokyo is seeing healthy freight volumes partly due to a cargo rush ahead of the end of Japan’s fiscal year and a rise in shipments ahead of the Tokyo Olympics that are due to start July 24.

A dispute over new tariff fees between private inland container depots in Bangladesh and Maersk, Gold Star Line, and OOCL puts hundreds of outbound container shipments, many of them apparel exports, in limbo.

While Mexico’s Pacific Coast ports have so far seen little decline in cargo volumes due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), some logistics providers expect volumes to fall beginning this month.

By laying the groundwork for increased competition between Kansas City Southern of Mexico (KCSM), which has no direct rail access to Veracruz at present, and Ferrosur, which does, the new two-rail link is positioned to drive not only service improvements, but volume growth.

The $300 million project allows GCT Deltaport to build longer trains faster and with less human accident risk, and boosts the Vancouver terminal’s annual capacity from 1.8 million TEU to 2.4 million.

Indian shipping sources expect import volumes to fall by double-digits in April due to the coronavirus, and the sector is scrambling to deal with the growing problems of equipment shortages and container dislocation.

Ocean Network Express said a raft of trans-Pacific and regional services are being hit by port congestion in Busan as officials report surging transshipment volumes amid diversions related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China.

Though the freight industry wasn’t the specific target of recent rail barricades by indigenous groups in Canada, the protests laid bare just how exposed the economy of the country, which prides itself as a trading nation, is to such disruption.

Carriers, unhappy with recent moves by the Indian government to regulate terminal handling charges, are turning to legal options to prevent the changes from taking hold.

he ports of Halifax and Montreal are looking to resume normal operations following the removal of indigenous protest blockades that halted Canadian National Railway service into the East Coast gateways.

Mundra’s transshipment cargo movement in the post-cabotage reform year up to April 2019 soared 21 percent year over year, industry data collected by JOC.com shows.

Canadian ports on both coasts are working toward a return to normal operations amid the nearly three-week-long spate of rail blockades, with full rail service restored to the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, and some service back at the Port of Montreal.

The Dubai-based operator’s acquisition of the Fraser Surrey Docks, which handled 350,000 TEU last year, was completed with partner Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a pension fund.

Terminal operators at Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) have agreed to lift additional charges for direct port delivery (DPD) cargo they had previously sought to impose.

The dismantling of a protest blockade blocking the Canadian National Railway line at Tyendinaga Monday morning could signal the end of the two-week old blockade that has crippled the movement of cargo by rail across Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is working with railroad operators to find alternatives to blocked rail lines as he urged First Nation protesters to end the crippling blockades he called “unacceptable.”

Following intervention by various industry groups amid the coronavirus outbreak in China, the Indian government has issued a directive to customs authorities to waive penalties typically levied for the late filing of import shipment data.

Halifax and the ports of Montreal and Vancouver have endured cargo backlogs at marine terminals and disruption to domestic and international shipments.

Capacity expansion at Bangladesh’s second port of Mongla is meant to relieve congestion at the busy port of Chittagong, where frequent vessel backlogs result in delays and demurrage costs for shippers.

Following imposing draft restrictions in four of the last six years, Panama Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez says a new approach is needed since the value of the larger locks, completed for some $5.25 billion in 2016, is for naught if full water draft can’t be guaranteed.

With Canadian National Railway’s Eastern Canadian network virtually shut down due to First Nation blockades protesting a planned pipeline, shipping and other business groups are urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to bring an end to the conflict.