Marine terminals

Innovation in robotics, driverless vehicles, big data and simulation software will be more important to port operations in the next decade as shrinking global trade volumes force ports to emphasize cost cutting and efficiency to turn profits.

The government of Turkey will open tenders to privatize the Port of Alsancak in the city of Izmir in the first half of 2016, according to the Daily Sabah, a newspaper.

The government of India, frustrated by its failure to pass a previous port reform plan following stiff resistance from trade unions and rival political groups, is considering new legislation to make major public ports independent companies in an effort to accelerate economic growth as New Delhi grapples with slowing foreign trade.

Total Terminals International last month set what company executives say is a new North American record by working nine cranes against a vessel, completing 2,285 container moves over eight hours. But the Long Beach terminal operator was seeking more than just bragging rights.

Busan had the shortest average waiting times at anchorage and Qingdao had the highest percentage of ships proceeding directly to berth among the 10 highest-volume global container ports, according to statistical analysis by IHS Maritime & Trade.

HHLA’s profit and revenue declined in the first nine months of the year as Hamburg’s biggest stevedore suffered a double-digit slump in container volumes.

Global Ports Group and Summa, Russia’s largest container operators, are losing their market share to smaller operators such as SVT Service, Translogistics, and Delovy Lines, which are adapting faster to slumping container volume, according to the Association of Commercial Seaports of Russia.

Kakinada Container Terminal, a joint venture between Singapore’s PSA International and two local groups, Kakinada Infrastructure Holdings and Bothra Shipping Services, last week began operations, offering India east coast shippers another port option.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, the biggest India port operator, reached an agreement to acquire Kattupalli Port, a minor port complex built by domestic engineering group Larsen & Toubro Ltd.

APM Terminals’ profit halved in the third quarter due to a sharp decline in imports of containers into oil-producing countries in West Africa, Russia and Brazil.

India’s biggest port operator, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, whose second-quarter earnings took a hit due to slowing volume growth at its flagship Mundra Port, has a reason to cheer.

DP World said its Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal at India’s Cochin Port is on a steady “growth path” on the back of operational efficiency and connectivity upgrades.

DP World has signed a deal to develop a logistics free zone at Senegal's port of Dakar. The free zone investment will benefit DP World’s container terminal in the port of Dakar and shippers using the nearby Blaise Diagne International Airport.

APM Terminals has invested in a multi-purpose cargo terminal in China, accelerating its expansion beyond its core container handling business.

International Container Terminal Services of the Philippines said revenue from port operations fell 11 percent year-over-year to $239.9 million in the quarter ending Sept. 30, despite volume growth of 1.9 percent to 1.9 million 20-foot-equivalent units.

China’s nine major listed container terminal operators will be more profitable in 2016 with a majority booking high single or double-digit growth in net profit when compared with 2015, according to a valuation report issued by Citi Asia Pacific.

DP World has acquired full control of the DP World Southampton container terminal after agreeing to buy the remaining 49 percent stake held by Associated British Ports.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone increased its net income and revenue in the second fiscal quarter, but it did so at a slower rate than last year as India’s biggest non-government port operator struggled to maintain its growth momentum amid a global shipping slowdown.

DP World’s container traffic increased 3.7 percent in the first three quarters of the year, driven by strong growth at its terminals in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

Hutchison Port Holdings Trust said its profit excluding non-recurring items rose 3 percent during the year’s first nine months, despite sluggish U.S. and European container volume that shows no sign of a quick rebound.

Cosco Pacific saw revenues tumble in the third quarter of the year after slower than expected throughput growth at its terminals and what it described as “continuing weakness” in container leasing rates and resale prices hurt its top line.

Global terminal operators are eying three private container facilities — even as the Brazilian government trudges through a $2.6 billion plan to sell off existing and new port concessions.

Adani Ports hopes to replicate the success of its flagship Mundra Port, India’s biggest non-government cargo gateway, at its new container terminal project at Vizhinjam, a deep-water, green-field site that is designed to counter the growing dominance of Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port for Indian transshipment cargo.

APM Terminals has reached an agreement to buy the remaining 39 percent of Grup Maritm TCB, finalizing the $1 billion acquisition of the Spanish port operator and consolidating its position as the world’s second-largest container terminal operator.

The problem of port congestion cannot be solely attributed to mega-ships and should be addressed through better industry collaboration and fundamental change across the supply chain, according to a global consultant in the container industry.

PSA International this weekend broke ground on a fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, which will provide a future avenue to ease congestion at India’s largest container gateway.

Hutchison Ports Australia (HPA) and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) today agreed to extend conciliation talks until November as both sides try to find a way out of a bitter dispute that exploded after 97 workers were fired in early August.

HHLA, Hamburg’s leading terminal operator, has downgraded its 2015 earnings forecast in response to declining traffic at Germany’s top container port.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, which operates India’s biggest non-government port complex at Mundra, is rapidly expanding its container-handling footprint to create a pan-India terminal network.

APM Terminals confirmed its interest in expanding its presence in Mexico as it starts the countdown to the opening of a container terminal at the port of Lazaro Cardenas on the country’s Pacific coast.

A federal appeals court has handed Maher Terminals the latest in a series of setbacks to the company’s effort to lower its rent on the largest container terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Yilport Holding, the leading Turkish port operator, has reached agreement to take over Tertir, a Portuguese port and logistics company, with terminals in Europe and Latin America.

Container ports fighting bottlenecks that drive up costs for shippers may soon have a new weapon: an automated container management system that promises to double throughput hourly.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced the acquisition of a minority stake in Turkish port operator, Global Ports Holding, just weeks after a near $1 billion Chinese investment in the country’s waterfront.

The Port of Barcelona has announced a deal with Hutchison Port Holdings to extend the current 30-year concession HPH holds for operating Barcelona Europe South Terminal by 15 years in exchange for the operator investing $6.5 billion in automation to boost productivity, according to local newspapers.

The government of China has begun to punish port service providers who overcharge for services, giving teeth to a previously announced measure prohibiting excessive port fees in a bid to boost slumping trade volumes.

The Bolloré Group plans to spend $120 million to octuple the annual capacity of its container terminal in the port of Freetown, Sierra Leone, to 750,000 twenty-foot equivalents after volume rose 30 percent over the last four years.

Expecting a 27 percent jump in container volume for this year, APM Terminals is spending $34.5 million over the next two years to double capacity at its facility at the Port of Monrovia, the only Liberian container gateway.

APM Terminals hopes that the opening of its Turkish container terminal at Petkim Port,near İzmir on Turkey’s west coast, in early 2016 will be just the first phase of its expansion in the country.

Global Ports’ revenue shrank by a quarter in the first half of the year as Russia’s largest container terminal operator posted sharply lower cargo volumes as the nation’s troubled economy continued to contract.