International ports

Construction workers building the Panama Canal’s third set of locks have called off a threatened strike after winning a pay increase from the construction consortium at the helm of the project.

APM Terminals’ Gateway Terminals India resumed operations Wednesday morning following the end of a week-long shutdown due to labor troubles, but it will take stakeholders weeks to clear up cargo backlogs and bring ship schedules back on track at the country’s busiest container gateway, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, according to local shipping sources.

Workers handling rubber-tired gantry crane operations and their employers at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust reached a new contract late Tuesday, ending a week-long strike that shut down APM Terminals’ Gateway Terminals India facility, the largest container terminal in India.

Russia plans to increase container volume through the Baltic Sea via the opening of a Bronka seaport and CMA CGM weekly services set to begin calling the port in September.

The $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion project may face a fresh setback if construction workers building the third set of locks follow through with their threat to strike.

In a sign Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust users are running out of patience with congestion spurred by the shutdown of APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India, which halted operations August 4 following labor troubles, ship agents representing ocean carriers in JNPT have called on federal government agencies to urgently step in to restore normalcy at the country’s busiest container port.

Ocean carriers have begun levying surcharges on Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust cargo to compensate for operational cost increases caused by the prolonged shutdown of APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India, even as JNPT maintains it is taking all the necessary steps to mitigate supply chain disruptions at India’s largest container gateway.

India’s major public ports boosted container volumes by nearly 5 percent in July from a year earlier, helping the ports recover from a year-over-year decline of 1.5 percent in throughput recorded last month, according to the latest provisional port statistics compiled by JOC.com.

Following rapidly in the wake of the launch of weekly containerized rail service for a rival Santos port terminal, Grupo Libra has gained its own service with rail operator MRS Logistica to serve its two right bank terminals.

Tauranga is more than half-finished with a $238 million project that will allow it to handle container ships with capacities of up 6,000 20-foot equivalent units.

All operations at Gateway Terminals India, or APMT Mumbai, continue to be shut down after conciliatory efforts by stakeholders to settle a prolonged labor contract dispute related to rubber-tired gantry crane operations collapsed Friday afternoon, forcing ocean carriers to reroute vessels and causing unprecedented shipping backlogs at the country’s biggest public container port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.

The Georgian government expects annual container traffic through the country’s seaports to roughly double to 1 million 20-foot-equivalent units by 2020, due to growth in the region and the expansion of it two major seaports, Poti and Batumi.

The Chinese government is prohibiting some port service charges and reducing the costs of others in an attempt to galvanize container shipping as the as the country’s container volume growth slows due to reduced global demand.

Brazilian stakeholders in the transport industry from state governments to port and trade organizations are pushing back strongly against the federal government’s plans to centralize all the country’s port authorities under the aegis of the Special Ports Ministry (SEP) in Brasilia.

The Ukrainian government is considering easing the customs clearance of containers at seaports to stop the 30 percent plunge in container volume that has plagued the country since the eruption of tensions with Russia.

Gateway Terminals India, the largest container facility in the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, remained closed to all shipping activities for the third consecutive day Thursday due to labor troubles, leaving beleaguered ocean carriers scrambling for alternative berthing options and shippers’ cargo stranded at the country’s busiest container port. Other terminals are also facing congestion on connecting arteries.

Two groups in Nova Scotia are racing to nail down a long-term commitment by one or more container lines to call at their proposed deep-water container terminals with super post-Panamax ships on rotations from Asia to Europe.

Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, has filed a lawsuit to force Vancouver drayage firms to pay back wages to drivers that were part of a 2014 agreement to end a month-long strike at Port Metro Vancouver.

Port Itapoa is expecting an 11 percent jump in container traffic this year, thanks to robust chicken and beef exports to China, new services and better road connections.

Woo Ye-jong has been tapped to lead the Port of Busan in its effort to become an even larger transshipment hub, succeeding Lim Ki-tack who has been elected as the International Maritime Organization's next secretary-general.

Two container ships at Port Klang, Malaysia, collided, sending containers and debris into the harbor.

A new joint venture between DP World and Toll Logistics in Sydney, Australia, could provide a container shuttle out of Port Botany and slash exports of empty boxes.

Work on the New Port Project at Al Wakrah, Qatar, is rapidly progressing towards completion as the small Gulf nation seeks an alternative to the congested existing port.

Oman International Container Terminal operated by Hutchison Port Holdings, will quadruple capacity to 6 million 20-foot-equivalent units, to capitalize on the recent closure of the Port Sultan Qaboos, Muscat.

State-owned Container Corporation of India is expanding its intermodal services connecting the country’s southeastern container ports, beginning its second rail service to a southeastern port in as many months.

Officials at Khalifa bin Salman Port in Hidd, Bahrain, predict a structural shift in the size of the Bahraini cargo market and forecast a dramatic increase in container throughput to 500,000 20-foot-equivalent units this year because of growth in government-led infrastructure and construction schemes.

Brazil could see yet another major container terminal rise in the south of the country, benefiting shippers but ratcheting up the already fierce competition between the eight existing terminals already operating in the region and the six in the Port of Santos, only 202 nautical miles north.

While politicians wrangle over the Greek debt crisis and economists speculate on the lasting impact to the European and global economy, a decision on who controls a container quay miles away from Athens could reshape European supply chains.

The Port of Townsville is set to receive a $403 million berth upgrade that will allow the northeastern Australian port to handle Panamax vessels, highlighting the movement of the majority of Australia’s trade from its southern to its northern ports.

Russia aims to septuple container volume through Crimean ports by spending more than $100 million on terminals and reducing tariffs on shipments to the region that has been a geopolitical flashpoint since its annexation.

All of the major public ports in India will soon set up a green channel for the clearance of coastal cargo, another initiative by the Narendra Modi-led government to reduce supply chain bottlenecks.

Brasil Terminal Portuário handled its one-millionth container Friday from the MSC Agrigento, the thousandth vessel to call at the Santos terminal since it opened 20 months ago.

Container trade at Russian seaports continues to decline as the first half of 2015 saw container traffic in Russia’s maritime basins decline anywhere from 12 to 32 percent year-over-year.

Minor ports in India continue to rapidly gain market share on their major public rivals, thanks to aggressive marketing efforts and cargo diversions, with the newest data obtained by JOC.com showing so-called non-major cargo terminals recorded double-digit year-over-year container growth fiscal year 2014-15, which ended March 31.

As the container trade from Asia to the Middle East grows, Saudi Arabia is expanding the container-handling capacity of its ports, opening a new terminal at Dammam this spring.

Winds in excess of 60 miles per hour at the Port of Cape Town have led to delays in berthing vessels for the better part of a week.

Embraport in the Port of Santos has seen its prospects improve with the addition of regular rail service, adding a new dynamic to the lively competition for container traffic taking place in the country.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and World Customs Organization gave a boost to Bangladesh’s efforts to reduce illegal shipping activities with the implementation of a container screening program’ at Chittagong Port, the country’s largest.

Port Metro Vancouver announced Wednesday that it will invest $12 million to install shore power at the Deltaport and Centerm terminals to reduce harmful diesel emissions from container vessels at berth. The projects, expected to be operational by March 31, 2017, will each eliminate 75 tons of emissions.