Marine terminals

Surge of time-sensitive merchandise in Los Angeles and Long Beach, coupled with persistent operational problems, caused turn times to increase in August.

DP World subsidiary Unifeeder ISC has agreed to purchase three business units of the Mumbai-based Transworld Group, including the short-sea and transhipment carrier Shreyas Shipping and the forwarder Avana Logistek.

Even as the number of container ship calls tumbled due to large-scale carrier sailing cancelations, the COVID-19 disruption became a thorn in the side of key Indian terminals striving to build on efficiency momentum.

Major foreign terminal operators have expressed interest in coming to Bangladesh, as the country looks to spark competition and better services in cargo handling.

Warehouses in Southern California are grappling with congestion and equipment shortages that can be traced back to marine terminals, as well as sporadic labor shortages owing to COVID-19.

Crowley Maritime’s switch to lift-on lift-off vessels a decade ago didn’t pay full dividends until it adopted an aligned terminal operating system to support its grounded operations at its hubs in Florida and Puerto Rico.

A new app marketplace connecting drayage providers and two terminals in Los Angeles could lay down a marker for how software integrations and common data standards will make harbor truckers lives more manageable in the Southern California port complex.

The National Labor Relations Board decision involving Terminal 5 in Seattle guarantees the International Association of Machinists dozens of maintenance and repair jobs over the ILWU, which also sought jurisdiction over that work.

Expansion of Prince Rupert’s Fairview container terminal will position the port to accommodate short- to mid-term growth.

Adani Group has pulled the plug on a $39.4 million deal it unveiled in December to acquire a controlling stake in India domestic cold chain logistics leader Snowman Logistics Ltd.

APM Terminals is rolling out a set of data connectivity tools, initially at two US ports, to inform shippers of container status and vessel arrival on a more real-time basis.

An increase in the traffic mitigation fee in Los Angeles-Long Beach will support rising labor costs for night and weekend gates.

A renewed push to reduce port stay times, driven by larger decarbonization goals, represents a rare scenario in which carriers, terminal operators, and cargo owners could all benefit.

Now that a number of terminals in Southern California have super-post-Panamax cranes, terminal operators say container lines feel more confident in deploying mega-ships on their Pacific Southwest services.

Despite seeing record turn times in Los Angeles-Long Beach, truckers say they are struggling with operational inefficiencies caused by more than 60 blank sailings this year.

Long-standing issues at Los Angeles–Long Beach involving the return of empty containers, terminal gate closures, and shift cancelations have gotten worse this year as carriers blanked dozens of sailings owing to the economic impact of COVID-19.

The average capacity of container ships calling ports around the world, and the average amount of cargo exchanged per call, continued to grow in almost all regions in 2019.

A group of 10 maritime bodies argues for accelerating the pace of port data standardization and adoption of modern, single-window systems, among a list of other initiatives.

Fenix Marine Services in Los Angeles is rolling out an improved program for processing truckers at the gates, which the operator believes could set a new efficiency standard for manual terminals.

The shift of Maersk Line’s South American services from Global Container Terminals’ Staten Island facility to sister company’s APM Terminals’ facility in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, highlights the cost-cutting pressures terminals face

DP World’s rollout this week of an online freight booking platform for forwarders continues its campaign toward broadening its reach in containerized supply chains.

Terminal operators are preparing now to prevent anticipated cargo surge in May and June by offering on-terminal storage space for containers carrying non-essential merchandise.

A coalition of 80 agricultural shippers is urging the Trump administration to get involved in the detention and demurrage debate now before the Federal Maritime Commission, saying the issue is even more important now amid supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Maritime Commission will engage stakeholders on how it can maintain cargo fluidity in the supply chain during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in a bid to avoid disruption.

A call in Los Angeles-Long Beach on Sunday by mega-ship MSC Oscar will begin the urgent task of evacuating empty containers and carrying laden export containers to Asia, which have been restricted by blank sailings in the trans-Pacific trades.

The Harbor Trucking Association in Southern California and Kuehne & Nagel are beginning to incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning to move into predictive and prescriptive analytics.

Terminal operators in Los Angeles-Long Beach are canceling work shifts due to plunging cargo volumes, which is causing a backlog of empty containers in Southern California and could trigger chassis shortages if the condition is not resolved soon.

Initiatives aimed at turning container ports from conduits of physical freight activity into hubs for the digital information surrounding those cargo movements are underway in virtually every major global gateway.

Terminal operators, truckers, and BCOs agree that expanding free-flow operations for the delivery of containers at West Coast ports is a win-win situation for all participants, but the complexities of pulling it off in an era of big ships and alliances is limiting its potential.

APM Terminals Elizabeth has announced it will launch a reservation system in late February, becoming the second of the six terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey to operate an appointment system.

DP World, in a letter to Russian regulators seeking to buy a stake in intermodal transport group Fesco, said it would invest $350 million in the Vladivostok seaport and expand the company’s railcar fleet.

After several years of piloting technology systems designed to reduce gate congestion, and marrying those systems with process improvements such as mandatory appointment systems, turn times in Los Angeles-Long Beach have reached near-record lows

Seaports on the US West Coast aim to regain some of the market share they have lost over the past five years to the East and Gulf coasts by building infrastructure and implementing technology needed to move cargo cheaper and faster.

North American ports are failing to match increasing vessel sizes and container exchanges with sufficient waterside and landside resources, resulting in extended vessel stays in port and yard and gate congestion at the terminals.

Chassis solutions such as the pool of pools in Southern California and the pool arrangement in the southeast US are still falling short of their goal of establishing fully interoperable chassis pools because of carrier-imposed box rules, drayage operators say.

The Port of Virginia will extend the hours of mandatory appointments by one hour to 3 p.m. during the week, a move supported by the trucking community.

Technology, data-sharing, and process improvements such as container dray-offs are mitigating marine terminal congestion in LA-LB, with further improvements likely as long as terminal operators and truckers continue to collaborate.

The increasing cargo and vessel size at the Port of New York and New Jersey will present a major test to the port’s new leadership as the port seeks to consolidate its dominance on the East Coast container market while improving fluidity.

The amount of time container ships spend at port continued to rise in the first half of 2019, despite relative gains in terminal efficiency, according to an analysis of JOC.com port productivity data.

APM’s terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey, which is undergoing a major upgrade, will be led by an executive with shipping, intermodal and chassis experience, starting Nov. 1.