Marine terminals

Fitch Ratings is warning that the new International Maritime Organization’s Safety of Life at Sea container weight mandate is poised to slow cargo throughput at U.S. ports as carriers, shippers and terminal operators grapple with rule set to take effect July. 1.

APM Terminals says it continues to pursue an independent course in seeking carriers’ business while providing corporate affiliate Maersk Line with dedicated capacity at three transshipment centers.

APM Terminals reported a 27.3 percent drop in net profit for 2015 as its container throughput declined by 5.9 percent because of divestments and weak volumes in some markets, parent A.P. Moller-Maersk Group said.

Electrification of container terminals is hugely expensive, but for large ports such as Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland, it may be the only way to handle growing cargo volumes in a sustainable manner, the vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association said Monday.

HHLA, Hamburg’s leading container handler, posted lower revenues and earnings for 2015 as China's slowing imports and Russia’s economic crisis resulted in a double-digit decline in traffic.

Paris-listed Bolloré Group was selected to build and operate a new $424 million port close to Dili, capital of Timor-Leste.

Contship Italia Group has appointed Marco Simonetti as vice president for developments and reorganization.

A long-time logistics professional and employee of Modern Terminals has been appointed chief commercial officer, the second executive appointment announced by the company in as many days.

Federal Maritime Commissioner Rebecca Dye will lead an FMC initiative to work with the private sector to find commercial solutions to congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Singapore-listed Hutchison Port Holdings, which owns deep-sea container terminals in Hong Kong and mainland China, announced a 1 percent decline in throughput and flat revenue growth for 2015.

Outer Harbor Terminal in Oakland, the joint venture between Ports America and Terminal Investment Ltd. that operates one of the largest container terminals in the port, filed a Chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware Monday.

A 30-year terminal industry veteran will head Modern Terminal’s Hong Kong facility, the terminal operator’s crown jewel, as the port faces intense pressure from Pearl River Delta competitors and transshipment rival Busan.

Australia’s Qube Holdings has upped the ante in its quest for full control of Patrick, Oceania’s largest stevedore and terminal operator, after saying it was willing to pay $1.9 billion.

DP World CEO Mohammed Sharaf is retiring after a storied career in which he oversaw the terminal operator’s transformation from a regional to a global player.

North American ports would most likely be dealing with congestion issues today even without the onslaught of mega-ships, because growing container volumes are taxing the port and intermodal infrastructure, the president and CEO of the Americas for Hyundai Merchant Marine said Tuesday.

Eurogate’s container volume shrank by 2 percent in 2015 as lower Italian traffic offset increased shipments at its domestic German terminals.

La Spezia Container Terminal in Italy saw its Asia focus continuing to pay off in 2015, with container volume rising 8 percent year-over-year and helping take its parent Contship Italia Group to a throughput of 6.3 million 20-foot-equivalent units for the year.

APM Terminals has finalized an agreement to establish a joint venture that will invest over $200 million in upgrading and expanding a container terminal in Cartagena, Colombia’s largest port.

DP World and the Russian Direct Investment Fund today announced the launch of a joint venture that will target investments in ports, transportation and logistics infrastructure in Russia.

International Container Terminal Services Inc. is expanding its footprint in Africa and the Middle East with two new terminals under development and an eye for more opportunities in the region.

Ports America and its joint venture partner announced Tuesday it will terminate in March its 50-year lease for the Outer Harbor Terminal in Oakland as the company concentrates its investments in other U.S. container ports to prepare for today’s mega-ships operated by powerful carrier alliances, according to Peter Ford, chief strategy officer.

European cargo terminal operators today called on their national governments to clarify regulations requiring all containers to be weighed before they are loaded onto ships.

Container ship berth times at Australia’s Port of Brisbane were the shortest among the top four gateways in the country, despite the port handling the largest vessels in the trade, CargoSmart data shows.

To meet potential California environmental rules, marine terminals in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland would spend billions of dollars more by replacing diesel-powered container-handling equipment with units powered by electricity, according to an engineering report.

More than 100 shippers groups urged the U.S. Department of Transportation to drill down on port productivity metrics via a new initiative aimed at helping Uncle Sam better monitor marine terminal congestion.

PSA International said throughput at its global terminals fell by 2 percent in 2015 as a result of tepid growth in global trade and structural changes in the industry.

Container lines are showing more interest in working with terminals to improve port productivity but it is not prioritized and there is a huge opportunity for improvement in the area, according to a major multi-location terminal operator.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone on Monday named Karan Adani, its current executive director, to the position of chief executive officer, as India’s biggest port operator sets forth an ambitious growth plan amid sluggish global demand.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone last week received the first batch of new marine equipment that India’s biggest port operator plans to install at its under-construction Adani CMA Mundra Terminal, a joint venture with France shipping giant CMA CGM.

Specifics on how the logistics chain will handle the new verified weight rules are beginning to emerge with Maher Terminals notifying the trade that it will only accept containers for export if carriers have provided the verified weight by electronic data interchange transmission before the box arrives at the terminal gate.

Container lines are leaving billions of dollars in fuel costs on the table by not putting enough focus on berth productivity.

APM Terminals-operated Gujarat Pipavav Port, a minor, non-major facility on India’s west coast, has acquired three new quay cranes in order to expand capacity and improve service.

ISELIN, New Jersey — The arrival in Los Angeles on Dec. 26 of the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, with a capacity of almost 18,000 20-foot container units, confirms the business case for automated terminals in Southern California and other major U.S. gateways, according to port planner Larry Nye.

Ripples of disruption from the West Coast port crisis are still affecting supply chains, shippers said at the JOC Ports Performance North America Conference.

The potential sale of Maher Terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey may mark a trend toward deeper involvement by port authorities in terminal ownership changes, an investment banker told the JOC’s Port Performance North America Conference.

Automation is necessary to increase container throughput and truck and rail turn times at U.S. ports, speakers at the JOC Port Performance conference said.

Container ports need a fresh, no-holds-barred examination of ways to reduce variability that hobbles productivity, Ports America’s chief strategy officer said

Construction on India’s much-awaited Vizhinjam International Container Transshipment Terminal project began at the weekend with a ground-breaking ceremony attended by Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, Kerala State Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and port developer Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani.

New intermodal terminals in Australia reflect the more holistic approach toward port capacity and productivity that some observers say will be needed as volumes grow and mega-ships discharge larger and larger loads of cargo.

Shanghai International Port Group is on the hunt for investment opportunities in Europe as it looks to China’s national development strategy to grow in what it says are some very challenging years ahead for global shipping.