Marine terminals

Harbor truckers in Los Angeles-Long Beach continue to experience long delays at the ports, but statistics released Wednesday by the Harbor Trucking Association show that the worst delays are not spent waiting in long lines at the terminal gates, but rather inside the terminals.

APM Terminals has agreed to acquire a majority stake in a Barcelona-based terminal operator with 4.3 million 20-foot-equivalents of annual capacity in Spain, Turkey, Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.

Gujarat Pipavav Port last received a call from the Maersk Saltoro, reportedly the largest container ship ever to call at the APM Terminals facility on India’s west coast.

Aerospace and defense company Saab has entered the port management technology market in the United Kingdom.

While some terminals are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to automate their operations in high-volume ports such as Los Angeles-Long Beach and New York-New Jersey, SSA Marine spent about $400,000 to install a semi-automated crane assist mechanism for a ship-to-shore crane in Long Beach that is so cost-effective it has application even for lower-volume ports.

DP World said the commercial launch of its new facility in Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, named Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminal, helped the country’s biggest container handler tackle the turmoil brought on by labor and other disruptions.

China Merchants Holdings (International)’s first half net profit jumped 29 percent year-over-year to HK$2.8 billion ($US 361 million) after throughput gains at Chinese terminals exceeded China’s overall container growth rate and traffic through overseas facilities rose at a double-digit clip.

Hutchison Ports Australia and the Maritime Union of Australia agreed Friday to return to the negotiating table, preventing a looming court action and paving the way to an end of a bitter fight over layoffs at Hutchinson’s Brisbane and Sydney terminals.

Global terminal operator DP World reported a 22 percent increase in net profit during the first half of 2015 but said it expects growth to slow amid a “challenging” global economy during the rest of year.

Gulftainer has appointed a former Maersk Line and DP World executive as CEO of its international operations as the container terminal operator expands its global footprint.

Increasing container demand of 4.5 percent annually through 2019 and the cascading of larger ships on to smaller trades will require marine terminals to invest to handle another 168 million 20-foot equivalent units.

Global Ports, one of Russia’s top container terminal operators, has shaken up its leadership in an effort to reverse its fortune after plummeting container volume.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone on Monday signed a concession agreement to develop the much-publicized Vizhinjam International Container Transshipment Terminal, allowing India’s largest private port developer to begin construction on the green-field project November 1.

Cosco Pacific container throughput registered a meager 1.3 percent growth in July as China’s slowing exports dragged down volumes at the mainland’s second largest port operator.

Brookfield Infrastructure Consortium, a global asset owner and operator, has purchased Asciano, owner of some of Australia’s largest container terminal and rail freight operations for $12 billion.

An Australian federal court Thursday granted a temporary injunction preventing Hutchison Ports Australia from making 97 dockworkers in Brisbane and Sydney redundant, allowing the workers to return to work after they had been locked out earlier this month.

HHLA’s operating profit edged 1.5 percent higher in the first half of the year even as Hamburg’s largest stevedore handled 10 percent fewer containers due to a slump in Russian imports and China’s slowing economic growth.

APM Terminals posted a sharply lower profit in the second quarter and downgraded its full-year earnings forecast as it trailed global market growth due to lower import volumes at its terminals in oil-dependent Russia and West Africa.

The Maritime Union of Australia has taken legal action in federal court against Hutchison Port Holdings’ decision to terminate 97 members of its 222-strong Australian.

Finnish crane manufacturer Konecranes is joining forces with its bigger U.S. rival Terex Corp. in an all-share merger to create a $10 billion-a-year group that can better respond to stiffer competition from Chinese manufacturers and slowing European and North American demand.

Container ships greater than 10,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units calling at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in July experienced significantly longer berth stays than the overall vessel average, with Long Beach also recording greater mega-ships arrival delays than the industry average, CargoSmart data has found.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone posted a 13 percent increase in net earnings in the first fiscal quarter on the back of strong cargo gains, due in part to Jawaharlal Nehru Port traffic diversions.

Union picketing is disrupting operations at Hutchison Ports Australia’s terminals in Sydney and Brisbane, even after the terminal operator denied accusations that it slashed workers at its facilities to bring in more automation.

APM Terminals has acquired the Vado Ligure Reefer Terminal alongside its Vado container port on Italy’s North West coast which is due to open in 2018.

Hutchison Port Holdings will close its Sydney terminal three years after entering the Australian market, and has locked out workers at the facility and its Brisbane terminal.

Hutchison Port Holdings is facing labor backlash on multiple fronts in Australia over plans to slash its workforce and turn to automation in a bid to cut costs, spurring work stoppages for four hours on July 30 in Brisbane and August 3 in Sydney.

Contship Italia, Italy’s largest container terminal operator, has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Sina Port and Marine, Iran’s biggest port company, to take advantage of moves by the U.S. and the EU to ease sanctions following the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Five firms, three joint ventures and two single companies, are aiming to win a concession to modernize Davao Sasa, a major gateway for Philippines exports, particularly bananas.

California’s Freight Advisory Committee met Tuesday in Sacramento to begin the process of implementing Gov. Jerry Brown’s executive order to develop a statewide sustainable freight policy that will transition ports, motor carriers, railroads and other transportation modes toward zero emissions.

DP World posted a 4.2 percent increase in container traffic in the first half of the year, driven largely by strong growth at its terminals in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

China Merchants Holdings International, China’s largest port operator on the mainland, is urging terminals along the maritime silk road to align in an effort to counter the alliances among container carriers.

HHLA, Hamburg’s largest container stevedore, forecast a “moderate” decline in traffic in 2015 but stuck to its earnings forecast thanks to increased intermodal volumes.

APM Terminals has ceased its operations at the Port of Jacksonville, and SSA Marine will provide stevedoring for the 2M Alliance’s recently launched TP10/New Everglades service.

Analysis of more than 125,000 port calls in 2014 ranked six ports in China and two ports from the United Arab Emirates among the Top 10 for the year.

Increasingly larger container ships are improving vessel-at-berth productivity at ports around the world, according to an analysis of the latest JOC Port Productivity data.

Port of Hamburg terminal operator Hamburger Hafen und Logisitik AG has ordered two new container gantry cranes for its Container Terminal Tollerort in preparation for the next generation of mega-ships.

With more automation coming to ports around the world, marine terminal operators need to get aggressive or risk losing opportunities to those outside the maritime industry, futurist Gerd Leonhard said Tuesday.

Work slowdowns and port congestion associated with the 2014-15 coastwide longshore contract negotiations continued to haunt West Coast ports in April, with total container volume down 6 percent from April 2014 even though the slowdowns had ended in February.

APM Terminals has fired 130 dockworkers at its general cargo terminal in Callao, Peru, where a strike has been ongoing since May 13.

International Container Terminal Services Inc. has agreed to pay $54.5 million to acquire Mexican port operator Terminal Maritima de Tuxpan.