International ports

Container handling rose nearly 2 percent in August at the world’s largest transshipment hub, the Port of Singapore.

After only 100 days in office, it’s clear that India’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi, will make reducing port bottlenecks a priority.

The Embraport container terminal in Santos this week signed a contract with Antaq, the regulatory body for waterways in Brazil, that gives it the status of a Terminal de Uso Privado, or a TUP or Private Use Terminal, making it exempt from certain labor rules.

European shipping lines, ports and cargo airlines are bracing for a further loss of business and possible service interruptions as the Kremlin weighs its response to the latest EU sanctions over Russia’s role in the Ukraine conflict.

Tanzania’s government has negotiated with China to allow work to start earlier than planned on a massive new $11 billion port in Bagamoyo

Construction on the controversial Nicaragua Canal will begin in December, a member of the Nicaragua Grand Canal Commission has confirmed.

The head of the Panama Canal says container lines that have maintained their all-water Panama Canal services rather than diverting ships to the Suez Canal will receive discounts when the canal is expanded in 2016

The early 2016 date for the opening of the expanded Panama Canal was endorsed this week by the president of Panama.

The chief of Hamburg port police says security at European ports needs a boost and is calling for greater cooperation among northern European port authorities.

The ECT Delta terminal at Rotterdam says that congestion problems that has led to diversion of a weekly G6 service to Antwerp since August have been resolved, but one carrier that uses the terminal isn’t willing to go that far.

Thailand is moving forward on building a deep-sea port aimed at opening new avenues of trade after the country’s junta approved a preliminary plan for construction.

European economic growth might be flatlining, but you wouldn’t know it by the strong container import growth in the first half, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

Nine marine terminals at Santos earmarked for a new concession process that would eliminate them may soon be given an official stay of execution following moves by Codesp, the local port authority.

Hapag-Lloyd diverts three more Asia Loop 4 services, part of the G6 alliance Asia-Europe service network, to Antwerp as Rotterdam congestion continues

Due to lower trade volumes to and from emerging markets in Asia, ports around the world overall saw weak performance in the second quarter of 2014, according to the Shanghai International Shipping Institute.

A pending free trade agreement involving the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries could jeopardize mainland China’s dominance in producing apparel for U.S. consumers.

Grup TCB has broken ground on a container terminal yard extension at Guatemala’s port of Quetzal that will help the terminal operator get ready for the extra traffic that is expected from the opening of the expanded Panama Canal.

Although delays are starting to ease at the Port of Rotterdam, schedule reliability to the Dutch port plummeted this summer.

The Brazilian Association of Port Terminals has launched a campaign to try and keep politics out of the Brazilian port sector.

The surging number of ultra large container ships has failed to create a European mega-hub with ocean carriers still operating multi-port rotations, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

The 13 ports owned by the national government in India are “wilting under the onslaught of competition from new private ports,” being way behind in areas like dredging and losing substantial market share over the past 20 years, according to LiveMint, a financial news service.

The Clementine Maersk will skip the port of Vancouver, British Columbia, in its current rotation, citing congestion and “significant” delays following the CMA CGM Attila’s striking of the dock two days ago. The Maersk Line vessel will shift cargo bound for the Canadian gateway to the CMA CGM La Scala.

Expansion of Duisburg’s container terminals has entered a new stage, taking the large German inland river port one step closer to meeting increased demand and additional rail traffic.

China Merchants Holdings (International) is the second state-owned terminal operator to post positive first half results with total container throughput rising by 18 percent to 38.5 million TEUs, consolidating its position at the top of the mainland’s port operator table.

The peak season is looming over the congested port of Manila as it continues battling to clear cargo and empties before a wave of Christmas container volumes starts arriving in the next two weeks.

German terminal operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA) has unveiled a new berth capable of handling the largest container ships at its Container Terminal Burchardkai at the Port of Hamburg.

U.S. shippers are finding that hedging their bets against possible U.S. West Coast port disruptions by shipping cargo through the Port of Prince Rupert comes with a catch: long delays before imports can be loaded onto the rails.

German-Russian business ties were on full display at a reception in St. Petersburg hosted by the Port of Hamburg, where politics was a main theme of discussion.

Officials at Argentina’s port of Rosario have urged their federal government to suspend a resolution that has banned cargo transshipment through Uruguay, alleging that the measure is severely affecting regional trade, the Buenos Aires Herald reports.

Striking truck drivers at the Chinese port of Ningbo have returned to work after a week of sometimes violent industrial action that brought terminal and drayage operations to a standstill.

The port of Manila is starting to feel the easing effects of measures put in place by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to clear containers that have backed up at the port since a day-time truck ban was imposed in the city in February.

In the latest instance of drayage-related disruption, violence flared at Ningbo’s Beilun Container Port as thousands of striking truck drivers clashed with riot police and smashed the windshields of trucks crossing a picket line. The past week’s protests brought the world’s sixth-largest container port to a standstill, with carriers reportedly diverting ships.

The Ningbo container truck driver strike is escalating with trucks clogging the terminal gates and forwarders warning customers to expect missed sailings and a shortage of boxes as carriers divert some calls to Shanghai.

Container throughput at major state-owned ports in India expanded 5.3 percent year-over-year during April to July, the first four months of fiscal year 2014-15, according to preliminary figures released by the Indian Ports Association.

Violence flared at Ningbo’s Beilun Container Port as thousands of striking truck drivers clashed with riot police and smashed the windshields of trucks crossing a picket line, according to the Hong Kong-based China Labor Bulletin.

Port Metro Vancouver is receiving a modest windfall in container volume thanks to the uncertainties surrounding longshore contract negotiations on the U.S. West Coast, but it might have profited even more if its terminals had more capacity to handle diverted cargo. Projects are planned to expand its capacity substantially over the next 10 years.

Brazilian waterways regulator Antaq approved $1.73 billion in upgrades for ports in Rio de Janeiro and Santos.