Marine terminals

The terminal operator says buying the railroad that connects ports on the canal’s Pacific and Atlantic sides fits into its overall strategy of offering more services to shippers.

Capacity improvements at the New Jersey facility will include optimization of the terminal layout, rebuilding berths at a higher level to allow for anticipated increases in the sea level and replacing existing cargo-handling equipment with zero-emission, electric machines.

The growing backlog of boxes awaiting a return to Asia has resulted in finger pointing among stakeholders over how best to address the problem.

Running loops with fewer ships will not be the current priority for an oversupplied industry, but new entrants may be more inclined to look at a lean, efficient product that has a competitive service edge in the key hubs it serves, writes Jeremy Masters.

The port will berth vessels at its smaller Ocean Terminal two miles downriver from the main Garden City terminal in order to cut waiting times outside the port and reduce ship backlogs.

Ports across the continent are struggling to clear bottlenecks as containers stack up in terminals and delay inland and feeder connections.

As a top tier of mega carriers has emerged through consolidation and organic growth, so has the need of those carriers to align their dominance on the ocean with capacity at ports.

European governments and the European Commission will carry out regulatory reviews to assess the level of market concentration MSC will have with the planned takeover of Hutchison’s port assets, with divestitures likely on the table.

Across all the terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach, average rail dwell times peaked at just under 10 days in October, according to the Pacific Maritime Shipping Association.

Labor peace at US East and Gulf coast ports is now ensured through September 2030 after the union’s rank and file approved the new labor agreement.

Cargo tracking shows no clear advantage for Chinese-based ocean carriers transiting the critical waterway, throwing doubt on the US president’s claims of China’s influence, according to a report from the visibility data provider.

The provincial government is looking to reignite the long-delayed Contrecoeur project, saying Montreal needs more capacity and new trade partners.

The port’s recently approved five-year strategic plan details infrastructure, transloading and maritime support activities that it hopes will spur cargo growth by making the Northern California gateway more attractive to importers.

As the new US administration looks to strengthen its regional sphere of influence, bipartisan political support is building to boost US shipbuilding, and thus, the country’s ability to project power in the Arctic and reduce dependence on foreign carriers.

The congestion is making it difficult for truckers to return empty containers and puts shippers at risk for late fees on empty returns and import retrievals.

The proposed Edgemoor container terminal was slated for groundbreaking in January, but the project timeline is now uncertain after a federal judge ruled its permit was unlawful in a case brought by the nearby Port of Philadelphia.

A new report from software vendor Kaleris has found that terminal operators around the globe believe they are providing better visibility data than shippers say are they receiving.

Sources tell the Journal of Commerce the union will convene a midweek meeting in Florida of its local wage scale committees across the 14 ports under its jurisdiction.

A confluence of factors, including vessel bunching at Asian load ports and a pre-Lunar New Year cargo surge, have combined to cause congestion at the port and reduce its railcar availability.

Shippers have long outsourced drayage to third parties, but farming out allocation decisions to managed transportation providers threads the needle between access to capacity and neutrality.

Shippers must weigh the merits of a single-source relationship on drayage through key ports over splitting volume among regional and national carriers, or even brokers.

While the two sides have come to terms on wages, formal negotiations have stalled since mid-November as the union and maritime employers remain stuck on what provisions the deal will include about port automation.

Shanghai and Ningbo are dealing with “serious” congestion, according to a forwarder, while labor shortages in Hamburg are causing berthing delays of up to 10 days.

In addition to any vessel backlogs resulting from a second potential ILA strike on Jan. 15, a major test for East Coast marine terminals will be their ability to handle the revamped carrier networks debuting in early 2025.

Imports are likely to remain robust into January as shippers attempt to beat new tariffs expected to be imposed by the incoming Trump administration while also navigating an early Lunar New Year that begins Jan. 29.

The risk of an East and Gulf coast port strike, US tariffs on China, and service disruptions through the launch of new alliances and networks await the industry in the first two months of 2025, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

One additional risk to a threatened strike at US East and Gulf Coast ports, which the container shipping industry did not have in October, is that the potential disruption would come just as new alliance networks are to be phased in, writes analyst Lars Jensen.

Advent eModal, a three-decade landmark provider of fee collection and appointment scheduling at container terminals, has been sold by private equity group Blackstone to air cargo software specialist CargoSprint.

The union’s hardline stance against the further encroachment of automation at US ports received a big boost with the incoming administration saying maritime employers should look to labor to increase capacity and efficiency.

A statement posted by the president-elect on social media Thursday made it clear he stood with the International Longshoremen’s Association and their opposition to automation at ports along the East and Gulf coasts.

Rail-mounted gantry cranes can reduce labor requirements and significantly increase the throughput of marine terminals, but those gains still come at a steep cost, listeners of the Journal of Commerce’s Port Performance North America webcast heard.

The Oregon gateway is moving closer to becoming a landlord port after it reached a framework agreement with a third-party operator for its only international container terminal.

The union representing 45,000 longshore workers along the East and Gulf coasts is seeking to block technology that management says is critical for land-constrained ports to handle larger ships.

The ocean carrier looks to secure berth slots and yard space ahead of 2025 as container lines and new alliances plan to leverage terminal ownership stakes.

The agreement was set in motion by Evergreen just weeks after Singapore experienced unprecedented congestion in May and June, with vessel delays of up to 10 days.

The move effectively allows both sides to avoid having to agree to a deal brokered by Ottawa, as had been ordered by the country’s labor minister.

Forwarders and industry analysts forecast strong import volumes through the early Lunar New Year that begins Jan. 29 as importers of time-sensitive merchandise and manufacturing components route shipments through the country’s busiest gateway.

Dockworkers in British Columbia, as well as Montreal, say Labor Minister Steve MacKinnon’s order to accept binding arbitration goes against their rights under Canada’s constitution.

The union representing about 45,000 dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports says employers want to eliminate jobs by implementing semi-automated technology at marine terminals.

The Democrat, appointed under the previous Trump administration, had taken a particular interest in port and terminal operations while at the US maritime regulator.