North American ports

Oakland has addressed its labor shortages and restored terminal fluidity, but vessel bunching and excessive container dwell times continue to limit productivity in Seattle-Tacoma.

With containers sitting in Savannah’s Garden City terminal longer and the number of vessels anchored outside the port in the double digits, the Georgia Ports Authority is urging importers to pick up their container faster and use intermodal rail to help vacate a growing backlog of boxes.

The Port of Charleston received a $1.3 million grant through the EPA’s Clean Diesel Program, which will support the purchase of eight all-electric, zero-emission vehicles to support exporters.

Every sector of the Southern California supply chain is at capacity, and conditions are likely to get worse barely two weeks into the peak-shipping season, according to Los Angeles’ port chief.

Although US imports from Asia have returned to single-digit growth after 11 consecutive months of double-digit increases, the cargo base is so large that even incremental growth this peak season will result in record import volumes.

President Biden’s recognition of global supply chain challenges draws attention to congestion in the US supply chain and should result in direct measures to mitigate the problems, according to the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott will extend for another 30 days a waiver that allows truckers to exceed federally regulated service hours as the Port of Houston deals with heavy cargo volumes.

The National Retail Federation said August container volumes will hit a new record as shippers pivot to holiday shopping needs at a time when the supply chain is being strained like never before.

Port of Long Beach chief Mario Cordero said total volumes into the Southern California gateway should see almost 10 percent growth this year as import demand continues to overwhelm the region.

Having successfully opened surge yards in Long Beach and Tacoma, Pacific Terminal Services Company is preparing to open a facility in Seattle to meet an urgent need for temporary equipment storage.

The backlog of vessels outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is rapidly approaching levels seen during last year’s peak season due to continued explosive imports and inland rail bottlenecks.

The Port of Houston’s two container terminals are expected to reopen tomorrow after software and hardware outages forced the closure of the gates.

Virginia Port Authority votes in favor of the second phase of dredging the main channel leading into Virginia’s Inner Harbor that will allow more calls by mega-ships.

Virginia Port Authority votes in favor of the second phase of dredging the main channel leading into Virginia’s Inner Harbor that will allow more calls by mega-ships.

The reopening of the US and European economies after last year’s COVID-19 lockdowns spurred a resurgence in the trans-Atlantic container trade as business activity in two of the world’s largest economies showed better than expected growth in May, with increases concentrated at US ports that have undergone major expansions.

The Georgia Ports Authority will open a 60-acre lot near berths 7, 8, and 9 this fall to add more than 600,000 TEU of container capacity to address the sharp rise in volumes this year.

The Georgia Ports Authority will open a 60-acre lot near berths 7, 8, and 9 this fall to add more than 600,000 TEU of container capacity to address the sharp rise in volumes this year. Photo credit: Ari Ashe/JOC.com.

There is an opportunity to make substantial, long-lasting changes in the supply chain that will benefit port communities, the transportation network, and the exporters and importers of goods.

There is an opportunity to make substantial, long-lasting changes in the supply chain that will benefit port communities, the transportation network, and the exporters and importers of goods.

Seattle-Tacoma and Vancouver increase their regional market share due to new services and extra-loader vessel calls, with Prince Rupert hoping to rebound from a slow first half.

Technology provider EDRAY, flush with new funding, has expanded its range of solutions to include a drayage marketplace and visibility tools.

Technology provider EDRAY, flush with new funding, has expanded its range of solutions to include a drayage marketplace and visibility tools.

More longshore workers will be eligible to return to marine terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey with the lifting of COVID-19 manning restrictions put in place last year.

More longshore workers will be eligible to return to marine terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey with the lifting of COVID-19 manning restrictions put in place last year.

After several months of improving metrics in Los Angeles-Long Beach, key indicators of productivity began to slide in June as vessel bunching, container dwell times, and chassis street dwell times worsened.

American Association of Port Authorities tells Congress that Customs and Border Protection needs to beef up staffing at ports or else shippers will continue to see delays in getting their freight.

Port officials in Savannah, Jacksonville, and Wilmington, North Carolina, have signed a deal to maintain the South Atlantic Chassis Pool through 2028 on the condition the pool will grow and chassis quality will significantly improve.

Trans-Pacific carriers this spring initiated two first-call inbound services to Oakland in order to relieve pressure on the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which had been experiencing vessel bunching and congestion.

Berth planning and optimization software provider Portchain has signed its first US customer in the South Carolina Ports Authority, which will initially deploy the technology at its new Leatherman Terminal.

With the award of a $46.8 million federal grant, the Georgia Ports Authority can begin construction on a new inland port in Gainesville, Georgia, that will provide a direct intermodal connection to the port of Savannah when it opens in 2024.

The US Department of Transportation said it would provide $44 million in funding toward a $146 million project to improve the main northern roads accessing the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Houston pilots said they will allow larger ships to transit the ship channel in a nod to ease a restriction that was seen as falling unfairly on the container shipping industry.

Port and terminal managers expect the NWSA of Seattle and Tacoma to quickly recover from a one-day shutdown of several container terminals due to unprecedented high temperatures in the region.

A member of the Federal Maritime Commission said the container alliances must address empty container returns in New York and New Jersey or face shortages of drayage truckers.

The Port of Charleston has restored pre-COVID-19 Saturday hours to handle volumes affected by double-digit import growth and a labor lawsuit involving the Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal.

The Port of Wilmington announces the start of a new refrigerated container service for the region’s produce shippers as it seeks to partake in reefer import growth along the US East Coast.

US imports from Asia grew faster at West Coast ports than at East and Gulf coast ports in January through May as carriers launched a half-dozen new trans-Pacific services to handle the continuing boom in imports from Asia.

The six busiest North American ports eked out gains in import market share during 2020 thanks to the surge in inbound container volumes at the biggest gateways.

Port Container Yard has reopened a 55-acre container yard in Newark that was previously dedicated to empty containers to store import boxes vacated from congested Port of New York and New Jersey terminals.

An expected increase in resin exports out of Houston and other Gulf Coast gateways appears to be taking longer than expected as resin producers seek to supply domestic customers first.