International ports

A major new warehouse construction contract has been awarded at the United Arab Emirates’ gargantuan new trade zone adjacent to the recently opened Khalifa container port in Abu Dhabi.

The U.S. has become equally attractive as Mexico to shippers looking to near-shore production, or shift manufacturing closer to the American consumption market, according to a global consulting firm.

Cargo throughput at India’s Port of Mumbai reached an all-time of 58.04 million tons in fiscal year 2012-13, which ended March 31, 2013.

The number of foreign trade containers handled by the Port of Osaka in western Japan declined 2.4 percent in 2012 from a year earlier to 2.120 million 20-foot equivalent units, according to preliminary figures released by the Osaka municipal government.

The Port of Hastings, Australia, will receive $110 million over the next four years from the Victoria government to expand container capacity and improve land-side transport connections, according to the state’s Premier Denis Napthine.

The Port of Tauranga in New Zealand has opened its expanded container terminal facilities.

U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing on April 10 at 2:30 p.m. EDT titled “Expanding the Panama Canal: What Does It Mean for American Freight and Infrastructure?”

The Port of Amsterdam has been officially corporatized as a limited liability company, of which the city of Amsterdam is the main shareholder.

The Port of Antwerp in Belgium has signed a collaboration agreement with the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo to strengthen trade relations with the country.

In 2012, the Port of Toronto handled 1.86 million metric tons of cargo, a 5 percent increase compared to 2011, according to the Toronto Port Authority.

Strikes and demonstrations by dockworkers at the Port of Hong Kong have now entered their second week and vessel queues are continuing to lengthen, forcing the diversion of large volumes of container traffic away from the world’s third-busiest container port.

State-owned Container Corporation of India has launched a regular intermodal rail service between the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal at Cochin Port and Bangalore, a southern hinterland destination, following an appeal by terminal operator DP World.

There’s been no shortage of market-defining action in the first three months of 2013. Who's up and who's down?

The Port of Jawaharlal Nehru’s container throughput slipped 1 percent year-over-year in fiscal year 2012-13, which ended March 31, 2013.

The number of foreign trade containers handled by the Port of Nagoya in central Japan edged up 0.8 percent in 2012 from a year earlier to 2.492 million 20-foot equivalent units, according to preliminary figures released by the Nagoya municipal government.

Jubail Commercial Port in Saudi Arabia will take delivery of six rail-mounted gantry cranes from Liebherr Container Cranes.

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, has announced plans to “radically overhaul” the nation’s 19 commercial ports and give the government a more hands-on role in the sector...

Busan Port Authority’s port committee has elected Jong-su Park as its 10th port chairman.

In January and February, Lithuania’s Port of Klaipėda and Būtingės terminal handled 62,879 20-foot-equivalent units, improving 8.3 percent compared with the same period last year.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on “conflict minerals,” to get interested parties’ views on a potential European Union initiative for responsible sourcing of minerals coming from conflict zones and high-risk areas...

The Port of Felixstowe has received delivery of three rail-mounted gantry cranes, which form part of a new rail terminal at the U.K. port.

Brittany Ferries has launched a weekly service between the Port of Poole in the U.K. and the Port of Bilbao, Spain.

At the end of 2013, representatives of inland shipping operators, seaport terminals, depots, shipping companies, hinterland terminals, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and the Netherlands’ Ministry of Infrastructure...

APM Terminals and its French consortium partners, Bollore Africa Logistics and Bouygues, have been named preferred bidders to operate a second container terminal in the port of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire.

India’s Port of Cochin said it has increased the maximum draft of vessels calling at the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal to 14 meters (about 46 feet) following harbor and channel dredging.

The port of Yokohama saw its container trade with foreign countries decline 2.6 percent in 2012 from a year earlier to 2,731,231 twenty-foot-equivalent units, according to preliminary figures released by the Yokohama municipal government.

Countries in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Belize must “dramatically” improve their intermodal road and port network infrastructure, as well as the quality of their trucking services, and strengthen their institutional coordination, in order to cope with the larger vessels that will transit through the Panama Canal when its expansion is complete in 2015, according to two studies issued by the Inter-American Development Bank.

Construction has begun on a project to boost capacity at Australia’s Port of Melbourne.

Spain’s Port of Bilbao reported goods traffic in the first two months of 2013 increased 10 percent year-over-year to 4.8 million metric tons.

China Shipping Terminal has agreed to acquire a 24 percent stake in APM Terminals Zeebrugge. It is the second Chinese company to partner in the Danish operator’s container terminal in the Belgian port.

New Zealand’s Port of Tauranga has received final approval from the Minister of Conservation for its plan to widen and deepen its shipping channel in order to accommodate larger ships.

The Port of Hong Kong handled 5.6 million 20-foot-equivalent units in the fourth quarter of 2012, down 9 percent year-over-year, according to Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department.

Copenhagen Malmö Port reported turnover in 2012 reached 725 million Swedish krona (about US$113.2 million), increasing 4 percent year-over-year.

The Prince Rupert Port Authority is preparing for the construction launch of the Ridley Island Road, Rail Utility Corridor in British Columbia, CFTK-TV reports.

India’s Ennore Port has decided to split its container terminal project into three separate terminals, after an earlier attempt to build the terminal with private funds collapsed last year...

The Panama Canal Authority has completed the dredging to deepen and widen the navigational channels along Culebra Cut as part of its expansion program.

Spain’s Port of Barcelona reported total container traffic in January was 126,835 20-foot-equivalent units, down 12 percent year-over-year.

India’s Port of Mumbai boosted throughput by 6 percent year-over-year in the first 11 months of fiscal 2012-13, the port authority said in a statement Monday.

Amway, the $11.3 billion direct sales giant, produces most of the $4 billion in household products it sells in China every year in that country, but it also exports components and raw materials from the U.S. for use in products made in its Chinese manufacturing facilities.