International ports

Negotiations spearheaded by Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his other cabinet colleagues to avert a threatened general strike on Wednesday collapsed at the weekend, setting the stage for a big battle between labor unions and government authorities.

A senior transportation official in Tianjin, China was found dead Wednesday after falling from his office.

The development of Port Louis will not only accommodate increasing container traffic, but also mitigate the likely impact of the cyclonic weather to which the country of Mauritius is prone, giving shippers more reliability.

The U.S. Coast Guard said that “out of an abundance of caution,” it will monitor arriving ships and containers that were in Tianjin when the Chinese port was rocked by explosions earlier on Aug. 12

Gateway Terminals India, or APM Terminals Mumbai, said it is taking all the necessary steps to speed up its gate activity that has drawn complaints from logistics providers operating in Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, the country’s busiest container gateway.

An explosion and fire that devastated the Chinese port of Tianjin, the 10th-busiest global container gateway, could cost the insurance industry more than $2 billion, making it one of the most expensive maritime disasters ever, according to a London market underwriter.

The Chinese government will slash seven shipping-related charges beginning in October in an effort to jump start trade as the government grapples with an economic slowdown.

Logistics providers out of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust continue to report excessive truck delays and serious yard congestion at terminals in India’s biggest container gateway, largely the result of a freight buildup following the week-long shutdown of APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India.

Strikes, partial strikes and slowdowns by Brazilian customs officers are continuing this week, but the effect on most shippers has been muted.

Malaysia-listed port operator Bintulu Port Holdings warned softness in the domestic container market could further crimp profit, which fell 31 percent year-over-year to 4.9 million in second quarter.

Shippers and ocean carriers at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust are bracing themselves for more delays and disruptions next week as unionized dockworkers at India’s biggest container gateway prepare to join a 24-hour general strike call issued by all major labor federations in the country.

Two cranes that arrived last week at Russia’s new deep-sea Port of Bronka will allow the port serving nearby St. Petersburg to better handle post-Panamax vessels.

Asian and Middle Eastern ports in 2014 were the most efficient in handling ships at berth than any other ports in the world, according to JOC Port Productivity data. But what about the 10 ports at the bottom of the barrel in terms of port productivity? Analysis of more than 125,000 port calls in 2014 shows the following ports ranked as least efficient for the year.

IBM and the Port Authority of Singapore are working to tap so-called Big Data to improve productivity and maritime safety at the major transshipment hub.

Sydney is poised dethrone Melbourne as Australia’s No. 1 container port, thanks to its inland rail connectivity that got a boost from government investment.

The backlog of containerized freight that built up over the past three weeks following the week-long shuttering of APM Terminals’ Gateway Terminals India is wreaking havoc on supply chains at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s busiest container handler, according to local logistics providers.

After decades of moving operations overseas, executives at U.S. manufacturing and distribution firms say they’re coming home, or at least closer to home via Mexico.

Greece has set deadlines for the privatization of its two major ports, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, after waffling on the issue in the first half of year and putting the country’s privatization efforts in doubt.

A Chinese defense manufacturing company plans to build a deep-sea port in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia, giving shippers of containerized rail from Asia another ocean shipping option for northern Europe delivery.

More Chinese ports have followed in the footsteps of the port of Tianjin to restrict the movement of hazardous chemical cargoes at their facilities, disrupting global supply chains and the manufacturers that depend on the inputs.

It’s been five years since Shanghai toppled Singapore for the No. 1 spot in the JOC Top 50 container port rankings, and Shanghai firmly led with a 1.4 million-TEU spread in the 2014 results.

Brazilian customs officials demanding pay increases have gone on strike after threatening to do so for the past two weeks in a labor action that may last some time and cripple trade in the country.

Tianjin port has suspended the import and export of all hazardous cargo following two deadly explosions linked to dangerous cargo, forcing U.S. shippers to reroute their shipments through other Chinese ports.

U.K. port operator PD Ports on Wednesday said it has bought three rubber-tire gantry cranes to handle container traffic growth at Teesport, the second-largest container gateway in the northern U.K.

Regional Container Lines last week became the latest ocean carrier serving India to levy surcharges on Jawaharlal Nehru Port-bound cargo to cover costs that incurred from congestion and delays following the week-long shutdown of APM Terminals facility in the country’s largest container port complex.

U.S. West Coast diversions helped fuel an 8 percent container volume increase at Port Metro Vancouver and allowed Canada’s largest container gateway to retain its Pacific Northwest market share.

The 2M Alliance of Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. will add a trans-Pacific call at Prince Rupert, giving the fast-growing British Columbia port its first direct Asian call from non-CKYHE carriers.

The Port of Hamburg handled 6.8 percent fewer containers in the first half of 2015 than a year ago, as sharply lower Russian and Chinese traffic hampered the German port's goal to become the No. 2 container gateway in North Europe.

Russia plans to double the traffic at its Far East ports by 2020-2022 via port modernizations and targeting trade with Asia to counterbalance the effects of tit-for-tat sanctions between Russia and the West.

CMA CGM is switching its Indian port calls on the CIMEX 2N service, an intra-Asia loop connecting major ports in China and the Indian subcontinent region by switching one of the service’s India calls to Mundra from Pipavav.

Tianjin's main container terminals continue to operate normally in the aftermath of last week’s deadly explosion at the Binhai New Area that killed more than 112 people, but the discovery at the weekend of a huge amount of highly toxic chemicals has the port on edge.

A political battle is brewing in Brazil as stakeholders spar over the future of the country’s Special Ports Ministry, or SEP, in a contest that may determine how future of container trade development.

Container operations at the Port of Tianjin are returning to normal after two explosions rocked the 10th largest global container port and the main gateway serving Beijing.

More ocean carriers have announced emergency surcharges for Jawaharlal Nehru Port-bound cargo to offset extra costs caused by the week-long shutdown of APM Terminals’ Gateway Terminals India.

No decision on a block exemption for Hong Kong’s container shipping industry will be made before the new competition law comes into effect on December 14, leaving the container shipping industry in the bizarre position where its activity will be illegal from that date.

One of the largest Russian investment holdings is betting that it can lure cargo from Southeast Asia away from Northern European ports through a planned Taman seaport — even after government backing faded.

Operations at two container terminals in the port of Tianjin have been suspended following the massive blast at a dangerous goods warehouse that has reportedly killed more than 40 people and injured hundreds.

APM Terminals has entered Colombia after joining forces with domestic terminal operator Compas S.A. to manage and operate the latter’s existing multipurpose Cartagena Terminal.

An enormous explosion said to have injured hundreds and been felt 10 kilometers away from the epicenter has been blamed on a container held at a terminal in the Binhai New Area, Tianjin, China, according to Chinese news report.