International ports

The group that plans to build a container terminal at Melford in Nova Scotia has completed the purchase of the land along the Strait of Canso for the deep-water port.

Container volume at India’s major state-owned ports slipped 4.37 percent during April to August from a year earlier, but total throughput was nearly 2 percent higher, according to the latest traffic data released by the Indian Ports Association.

The Panama Canal in 2015 will regain much of the U.S. East Coast container cargo that is being diverted now to the Suez Canal route, according to Rodolfo Sabonge, the canal’s executive vice president of market analysis and research.

The Panama Canal Authority has met with the Japanese Shipowners Association and several car manufacturers in Japan to discuss the future toll structure of the canal...

The Netherlands’ port infrastructure has been ranked as the best internationally by the World Economic Forum...

Cosco Pacific is set to boost capacity at its container terminals in Piraeus, Greece, amid reports that the company plans to bid for a majority stake in Greece’s largest port.

Backers of proposed deep-water container terminals at Melford and Sydney, Nova Scotia, are undeterred by the projects’ long gestations.

Port Metro Vancouver handles more than 50 percent of all container cargo moving through Canada’s busiest container ports, and the British Columbia gateway is investing to retain its No. 1 container port position.

Peel Ports has appointed Farrans Construction to upgrade Gladstone Lock and adjacent container terminal quayside infrastructure at the Port of Liverpool...

The Port of Felixstowe has reached a milestone, handling its 70 millionth 20-foot-equivalent unit since container operations began at the England port in the mid-1960s.

Eight organizations have presented formal proposals for prequalification for the public-private partnership contract to build and operate a fourth container terminal at India’s Port of Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva), as the deadline for the first stage of the bidding process ended July 19, according to port sources.

The first four gates for the Panama Canal’s third set of locks have arrived at the waterway’s Atlantic side from Italy’s Port of Trieste onboard the vessel STX Sun Rise.

GlobalFoundries, a joint venture between Advanced Micro Devices and the government of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, is investing $8 billion to build a fabrication plant to make nanochips it supplies to electronics plants worldwide.

APM Terminals Rotterdam terminal in the Netherlands has welcomed the inaugural call of the 18,000 20-foot-equivalent-unit Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller, a Triple E vessel.

Germany’s Port of Hamburg moved 46.5 million tons of container cargo, or 4.5 million 20-foot-equivalent units, in the first six months of 2013, up 2.1 percent year-over-year.

Felixstowe, the U.K.’s biggest container port, has stepped up hostilities in a war of words with the new London Gateway terminal that will open for business in a depressed market before the end of the year.

India’s Chennai Port Authority, which last month canceled the bidding process for the construction of its long-planned mega container terminal, is again seeking bids.

Peel Ports has appointed specialized contractors BAM Nuttall and Van Oord to construct a new in-river quay wall at the Port of Liverpool’s post-Panamax container terminal, Liverpool2, in the U.K.

Black Sea ports most likely will not receive vessels of 10,000 20-foot-equivalent units in the near future, as the ports are not prepared and productivity is too low, according to the latest issue of SeaIntel Sunday Spotlight.

U.S. footwear imports in 2012 slipped 0.4 percent year-over-year, although they are predicted to rise from $23.4 billion in 2012 to $29.6 billion in 2017...

India’s Kandla Port Trust has issued a request for qualification from interested bidders for the construction and operation of a new container terminal under the public-private partnership model.

The opening of a new container terminal at Colombo in Sri Lanka, designed to attract transshipment traffic, is unlikely to have a serious impact on the dynamics of liner shipping in the Indian Ocean, analysts say.

The volume of containers handled by major ports in India slipped 4.73 percent year-over-year from April to July, the first four months of fiscal year 2013-14, the Indian Ports Association said in a statement.

Estonia’s Port of Tallinn handled 14.93 million metric tons of cargo in the first six months of 2013, a decline of 6 percent year-over-year.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority has launched Vision 2020, a corporate plan with the theme “Logistics Excellence in the Silk Road.”

Russia’s Commercial Port of Vladivostok handled 47,900 cars, trucks and heavy duty vehicles in the first half of 2013, increasing 23.5 percent compared with the same period in 2012.

The first four new gates for the Panama Canal’s third set of locks is scheduled to arrive in Panama from Italy on Aug. 19, 2013.

England’s Port of Dover reported its traffic in the cross-Channel freight market in the first six months of 2013 rose 11 percent compared with the same period last year...

Metro Ports Canada, part of Nautilus International, has signed an agreement with Pinnacle Renewable Energy to manage the Westview Terminal operation, a wood pellet, railcar-receiving...

The Hamburg Süd Cap San Nicholas, a 9,700 20-foot-equivalent unit capacity vessel, has called at the Port of Buenos Aires, discharging about 800 containers at the APM Terminals Terminal 4 facility.

Spain’s Port of Bilbao reported cargo traffic in the first six months of 2013 was 15 million metric tons, increasing 11 percent compared with the same period last year.

North Europe’s import volume is projected to fall by 8.9 percent to 12.2 million 20-foot-equivalent units in 2013, despite a 3.9 percent increase in Europe’s overall import volume...

Gujarat Pipavav Port in India handled 0.143 million 20-foot-equivalent units of container cargo in the second quarter of 2013, increasing 17 percent year-over-year.

The Brazilian Institute of Environmental and Renewable Natural Resources has issued an operating license to Brasil Terminal Portuario, officially opening the new terminal.

Eight companies and three consortia have responded to a request for qualification for the public-private partnership contract to build and operate a new container terminal at India’s Port of Ennore.

The Port of Barcelona reported container volume of 828,169 20-foot-equivalent units in the first six months of 2013, a 3 percent year-over-year decline driven by a 42 percent drop in transshipments.