North American ports

The planned New Orleans container terminal would handle rising container volumes, particularly Asian imports, and enable the port to make larger play for Midwest cargoes routed through the West Coast.

The import surge that hit Los Angeles-Long Beach this summer has arrived at major East Coast gateways, with a year-over-year increase in November imports from Asia of more than 30 percent.

Resin exports jumped 32 percent at the Port of Mobile during the first seven months of the year compared to the same period a year ago.

The real possibility that Asia imports will stay elevated through at least the first quarter, coupled with labor and trucking shortages, are creating a so-called perfect winter storm for more port congestion.

Volume in Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia is rising quickly, including an all-time container record in Savannah and Norfolk in November, due to continuing demand for furniture and appliances.

Container terminals in Los Angeles-Long Beach are overwhelmed by imports, resulting in almost week-long vessel dwell times and a pressing shortage of longshore labor, according to a terminal executive.

The Port of Virginia has gained a weekly service that will be the loop’s only US stop from Northern Europe and the port’s first-ever direct connection for exporters to the Caribbean.

The Port of Long Beach unveiled a cooperative plan with its terminal operators to improve port fluidity by prioritizing dual transactions for truckers.

Equipment providers open a near-dock site at Port of Los Angeles as a stop/start location for chassis in order to free up space at marine terminals and improve cargo velocity.

Port of Los Angeles executive director says greater trucker participation in the two-week-old Return Signal platform will help to mitigate the congestion problems caused by truckers’ difficulty in returning empty containers to the marine terminals.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex has experienced the greatest amount of congestion, owing to record imports from Asia that began over the summer when initial COVID-19-related lockdowns were eased.

A&R Logistics opened a resin packaging plant in Georgia last week more than a month ahead of schedule, and along with its new South Carolina facility will contribute a combined 100,000 TEU of new volume at the ports of Charleston and Savannah annually.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demand in the United States and the Caribbean and Central America caused two-way trade between the regions to contract in the first nine months of 2020.

The increase in one-way container moves means drivers spend more time waiting on line at different terminals, and running down the hours of service they can legally drive.

Major and regional container carriers in recent years have added shuttle services on routes connecting ports in Mexico to the United States, particularly Tampa and Miami.

The intensity of Asia import flow is also shifting on the West Coast as volumes in October rose more sharply through the Northwest Seaport Alliance than though Southern California.

Pleas by truckers and shippers for carriers to work more closely with them to reduce congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach resonate with shipping executives.

The NY-NJ rail increase is being felt most in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where APM Terminals and Maher Terminals operate facilities and where rail lifts are up 8.4 percent.

Ray-Mont Logistics on Wednesday will open a transload terminal at the Port of Seattle, providing customers with integrated logistics services at the facility.

With the entire Southern California supply chain overwhelmed by imports, harbor truckers are asking ocean carriers to suspend detention and demurrage charges until the congestion problems are fixed.

CMA CGM’s move to expand its intermodal surcharge to Southern California reflects what some forwarders and drayage operators say is a worsening situation at the port complex as elevated Asia import volumes don’t let up.

The busiest US Gulf Coast ports saw only a small decline in throughput during the first seven months of the year despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer demand in the US and abroad.

The Appalachian Regional Port has been more successful than port officials hoped, so the Georgia Ports Authority wants money to develop more land to store containers.

With more than $1.5 billion in port projects underway, Stephen Edwards is positioned to drive Virginia’s performance particularly in terms of the port gaining a larger share of Asia imports into the Midwest market.

The Leatherman terminal, along with new retail BCOs and resin exporters, will lead to a bounceback in volume after the COVID-19 pandemic crimped container traffic, the South Carolina Ports Authority said in its State of the Port address.

Forwarders and logistics experts say the arc of ports stretching from Houston to Tampa can become an even larger gateway for Asian imports as ocean carriers add more capacity between the two regions and ports upgrade and expand.

Responding to demands by port stakeholders to take immediate action to relieve congestion, Long Beach opens a near-dock container storage yard and Los Angeles is rolling out financial incentives for carriers and truckers for productivity improvements

Three new import beneficial cargo owners will be using the port of Savannah in 2021, just one part of a thriving industrial real estate market in Savannah that has been resistant to economic downturn related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project grants are part of the US Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program, with funds going to 18 projects, almost half of which are earmarked for “opportunity zones” in economically distressed communities.

Owing to California’s strict environmental requirements, as well as standards for the region outlined in the federal Clean Air Act, the ability of Los Angeles and Long Beach to expand their infrastructure and grow cargo volumes depends on achieving emissions-reduction goals.

Monday’s opening of the new Gerald Desmond bridge in Long Beach, part of a massive $4.5 billion capital expenditure program, will provide the immediate benefit of reducing truck turn times.

The Port of Virginia’s year over year volume rose in September for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, with truck turn times still less than 40 minutes on average but elevated rail container dwelling.

East and Gulf coast ports offer significant rail-related cost advantages to the interior, leading the Pacific Maritime Association to urge West Coast ports to operate more efficiently in order to prevent further erosion of market share of US imports from Asia.

Houston’s need for additional space comes as it hopes to begin funding a multi-year channel widening project by next year amid a building boom for container ship capacity along the US Gulf Coast.

The Jacksonville Port Authority (Jaxport) has secured the final piece of the funding pie needed to deepen the port’s main harbor to 47 feet to Blount Island, a critical step toward handling more post-Panamax vessels in the trans-Pacific trade.

Equipment providers and terminal operators say excessive container and chassis dwell times at import warehouses in Southern California are the main culprit in recent congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The intensity of the Asia import surge is such that executives believe a return-to-normal container flow might still take months given how out of balance the system has already become in recent weeks.

The Port of Virginia’s Virginia International Gateway (VIG) terminal has resumed Saturday gate hours through Nov. 21 after suspending weekend service in mid-March at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A&R Logistics has opened a new resin packaging plant in South Carolina two months ahead of schedule, causing port officials to be bullish about resin exports in 2021.

Container volume in Savannah set a new monthly record in August, a result port officials didn’t anticipate but attribute to US consumer demand for online shopping and home improvement goods.