International ports

Container throughput at Liverpool has fallen, and with the decline in volume expected to continue through the year the port is planning to cut its headcount.

Shanghai International Port Group will begin construction on its new 11.5 million-TEU container terminal at the world’s busiest port complex next month, with completion expected in 2030.

Cosco Shipping wants to make Hamburg a strategic transshipment hub for North Europe, but German regulators have yet to approve a minority terminal stake in the port.

The move to allow for transshipment cargo from Bangladesh via barge and short-sea container ships builds on a previous carve-out for cross-border trucking and rail services.

Port terminals in Alexandria, Sokhna, Port Said, and Damietta are edging closer to full utilization, prompting operators to expand existing facilities and build new ones.

Freight forwarders warned that shippers could face weeks of delays due to back-to-back typhoons that have battered China, while blank sailings are rising ahead of the Golden Week holiday.

Typhoon Muifa is expected to make landfall in the Shanghai-Ningbo area Wednesday, just over a week after another storm forced the ports to close, delaying services for ocean carriers.

Runaway inflation has driven up union pay demands that employers are unwilling to meet, escalating industrial disputes in several sectors across the UK.

Terminal operator PSA has officially inaugurated its Tuas terminal, which will consolidate container handling operations from Singapore’s four existing terminals.

Departures from Shanghai and Ningbo are expected to face a two-day delay after a typhoon hit coastal areas of eastern China over the weekend, while some Busan services were also disrupted.

COVID restrictions have significantly cut cross-border container traffic between China and Hong Kong, but Chinese authorities have little reason to ease the rules with cargo being shifted to Shenzhen.

A joint venture in Rotterdam between two of Europe’s largest terminal operators will dramatically expand the port’s container handling capability.

Barge services along large parts of the Yangtze River, a critical Chinese transport artery, are severely disrupted due to the continuing drought in central and western parts of the country.

The industrial action hanging over Germany’s busiest container ports has been resolved, but there is no agreement in sight at the increasingly bitter Felixstowe strike in the UK.

Dockworkers demanding inflation-busting pay increases in a deepening cost-of-living crisis are a fast-growing threat to the already overstretched European container supply chain.

While Hamburg’s container trade with Russia fell sharply in the first half amid EU sanctions on Moscow, the German port still managed to see small growth in box volumes, unlike its major competitors.

The jump in July throughput at the world’s biggest container port came as US imports from Asia last month rose from both June and the year-ago period.

About 1,900 stevedores plan on an eight-day strike at the UK’s busiest container port starting Aug. 21 if no new pay deal is reached.

CMA CGM believes the advantages from a dedicated terminal in India will help it enhance service levels there as the carrier vigorously pursues integrator goals.

The port authorities of Rotterdam and Singapore want a new green corridor between the hubs to attract the investment and pilot projects crucial to developing a fossil fuel alternative for shipping.

One shipping executive warns that if the current trend continues, Hong Kong will lose its position as a leading transshipment hub for China and the region.

Soaring inflation and a cost-of-living crisis is leading to a sharp increase in industrial action by workers across Europe, with Port of Felixstowe dockworkers the latest to vote for a walkout.

Declining volumes, the Russia–Ukraine war, and a deteriorating economic outlook have left Europe’s busiest container port with a bleak outlook for the year.

Collection of terminal handling charges has long been a controversial issue in India, as the levy often varies from terminal to terminal even within a port.

Lengthy delays at congested North European transshipment hubs will be avoided by a new direct service that has launched between China and Scotland.

A new plan rolling out in 2023 will streamline the Panama Canal’s tolling system and implement fees for empty boxes heading back to Asia, a move the Canal says “recognizes the repositioning value of empty containers.”

The cargo rush some expected after Shanghai’s warehouses and factories reopened once COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were lifted on June 1 has yet to materialize.

An acceleration of US imports from Europe in June suggests there will be no relief through the summer for overwhelmed US East Coast terminals.

The entry into a key Mediterranean hub is a major boost to Adani’s global ambitions, complementing its ongoing work on a container transshipment terminal at Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port, which is expected to go live in 2024.

Europe’s second-busiest port is battling to stem falling container throughput as widespread disruption across logistics chains and the war in Ukraine affect its handling ability.

Industry sources said a four-day drayage strike this week in southern India left about 12,000 TEU stranded across three key ports, apart from stalling the gate-in of export boxes.

Older container trucks serving the Port of Vancouver will begin to be phased out from mid-September as the port looks to replenish the fleet with cleaner-running vehicles.

Falling import volumes into North Europe amid rapidly deteriorating economic conditions have not provided any relief for hub ports in the region as logistics challenges mount.

German port union ver.di and port employers are locked in their sixth round of wage negotiations this week in a dispute over inflation-matching increases.

After two years of keeping supply chains moving in a heavily disrupted logistics sector, and now facing rapidly rising inflation, transport worker unions in Europe are turning up the heat on employers.

The congested North Europe hub of Antwerp is having its container terminal operations and inland logistics connections further tested by industrial action.

A breakdown in wage negotiations between German port employers and labor comes at a particularly inconvenient time, with supply chains heavily disrupted and peak season about to begin.

Already congested ports in North Europe are bracing for a spike in volume this summer following the lifting of COVID-19 lockdowns in China, but deteriorating economic conditions in Europe could cause demand to drop in the fourth quarter.

A new working arrangement that for the first time allows pilots from Hong Kong and Shenzhen to navigate in each other’s waters aims to mitigate delays stemming in part from a pilot shortage in Yantian.

Government investments are expected to triple capacity at Port Saint John amid accelerated growth brought on by partnerships with Canada Pacific, DP World, and more.