International ports

Terminal de Containeres do Paranagua is the latest container terminal in Brazil set to be granted an extension to its long concession, and has therefore declared its intention to invest US$452.9 million in the facility.

Cyclone Hudhud left devastating damage to India's eastern seaboard Sunday, according to reports on The Weather Channel.

State-owned major ports in India recorded healthy levels of container throughput growth in the first half of the fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2015, according to preliminary figures released by the Indian Ports Association.

Uruguay will proceed with an ambitious plan to build a deep-sea hub port at Rocha, located about 135 miles east of Montevideo. Various sources in Brazil suggest the Brazilian government will back the Rocha port project, to the tune of $500 million, something Brazilian port associations oppose.

India needs to invest heavily in port infrastructure development to cope with a projected significant growth in traffic volumes, according to a report from the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.

Based on vessel arrival delays at the two ports in the last 12 months, Shenzhen performed better than Hong Kong with shorter average delays across all vessel sizes, said CargoSmart, a logistics software firm.

The Chinese government unveiled a six-year plan to develop the nation’s infrastructure and capacity, including a strategy to double the size of the port of Tianjin, in order to boost import and export flows and modernize its domestic supply chain.

International Container Terminal Services will spend $330 million to expand its terminal in Manila and inland container depot over the next 10 years, in an effort to alleviate long-term congestion issues at the port.

In cooperation with the Chinese government, Russian port logistics company Summa Group plans to complete a $100 million expansion of the Russian port of Zarubino in 2018, offering shippers better access to and from Northeast Asia.

Bigger ships, and more of them, will be soon be able to call at the port of Tianjin after the Chinese government approved a plan to open up a larger portion of the port's waters to foreign cargo ships and add beths.

Potential Russian transit blocks and additional European Union sanctions could hurt both ports and railways in Latvia, and cripple the country's economy, Latvia's economy minister said.

Hapag-Lloyd has suspended its Rotterdam congestion surcharge in the latest sign that traffic is flowing more freely at Europe’s largest container hub following a summer marred by lengthening delays in cargo handling.

The Shenzhen government could pay nearly all of the extra costs associated with switching to low-sulfur fuel while at berth in the city’s port as a result of a new government-sanctioned program.

After months of saying the concession bandwagon must go on, Brazil’s port minister Cesar Borges has this week stated publicly that the South American country may have to revise its model for serving up port concessions and devise a “Plan B”.

“If it bleeds, it leads,” is a saying in the news industry that means bad news gets higher ratings than good news, and that rang true on JOC.com this past week.

The Port of Veracruz plans to quadruple its total capacity through a $1.8 billion expansion plan.

UPS added 766 U.S. postal codes to its UPS Worldwide Express Plus network in the third quarter, extending the reach of its international earliest morning service deeper into the U.S.

New regulations on trucking capacity at Vietnamese ports are exacerbating congestion at the overloaded Cat Lai terminal in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

With the navigation channel of the Brazilian port of Santos closed for 12 hours today, it’s possible that South America’s largest port will finally have a tunnel linking its eastern and western banks after more than 80 years of waiting.

Extortion of truck drivers played a role in congestion at the Port of Manila, a top Philippine official said yesterday.

Germany’s Federal Court again delayed a final ruling on plans to deepen the navigation channels in the river Elbe to allow the port of Hamburg to handle the latest generation of mega-container ships.

The Port of Dover plans to spend up to £120 million (US$151.4 million) to add a container terminal and a distribution facility and to make other improvements after the port said it saw record volumes in 2012 and 2013 at the Southeast England port.

Container port congestion has been a hot topic this year, with issues including late ship arrivals; strikes, or fears of strikes, and their impact; terminal projects; and adverse weather conditions popping up across the world. While some congestion is caused by short-term issues, certain world regions may be at greater risk of persistent congestion in the longer term.

Shippers are getting U.S.-bound cargo more easily through the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert as the surge in imports avoiding the U.S. West Coast due to labor talks subsides with the conclusion of the ocean peak season.

The Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) will speed up construction of new yard facilities and an inland container depot at its flagship Manila terminal, boosting the yard capacity by more than 20 percent.

Roughly 500 Nicaraguan farmers protested against the Nicaragua Canal this week, angered that the $40 billion plan includes the seizure of their land.

Australian dockworkers are planning to walk off the job next week at DP World terminals in Melbourne and Sydney as part of a contract dispute, according to a report.

The blossoming economy in Morocco is presenting opportunities for port investment, and officials are hoping good news could spur up to $8 billion in new port infrastructure.

Cargo headed to the U.S. from Cambodia will face added scrutiny due to what the U.S. Homeland Security calls inadequate security measures

A Dutch court has rejected a claim by ECT, Rotterdam’s largest container terminal operator, that the port authority acted unlawfully in awarding concessions for two giant terminals about to start operations to its rivals.

Shippers and ocean carriers already grappling with severe intermodal rail delays at India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port should expect more troubles due to the planned shutdown of container berths for two months beginning in mid-October for the installation of new quay cranes.

South American ports are struggling to keep up with explosive growth in demand. The average size of ships calling on the east coast of South America has increased 140 percent since 2006, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

All 12 major Indian ports will become connected to railroads, which will also connect major factories and inland waterways, the union minister of road transport and highways and shipping, Nitin Gadkari, said today.

Global container port traffic will top 840 million 20-foot-equivalent units by 2018, with Africa and greater China posting the fastest growth rates, according to shipping consultancy Drewry.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has toured APM Terminals Callao to view how the terminal operator’s investment of more than $750 million at the port’s North Terminal is being modernized to handle larger ships.

There really was a Christmas in July this year, at least in terms of increased global container business. That bodes well for North American trucking, intermodal rail and package delivery companies now preparing for an influx of freight ahead of the holiday season.

India plans nearly a 50 percent increase in port fees including stevedoring and pilotage at Chennai to improve the port's financial performance

The northern Chile port of Iquique plans an $80 million expansion.

A $400 million loan necessary to complete the $5.3 billion Panama Canal expansion project has been received by the engineering consortium responsible for widening the canal, according to the Panama Canal Authority’s lead administrator, Channel News Asia reported.