Marine terminals

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.

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.