North American ports

The soybean export surge at East Coast ports spells trouble for West Coast ports' market share and confirms that aggressive carrier pricing and less-costly rail rates to the East Coast will continue to push exports and imports to East Coast gateways.

“We are looking at everything [in terms of expanding the physical acreage of the port]. We’re not going to stop just because this is our current fence line,” GPA executive director Griff Lynch said Monday.

Port CEO Eric Green called the start of dredging “a huge day for our city, our region, and our state.”

The factors that delayed resin export growth from the United States are largely transitory and the long-term thesis for increases remains intact, experts argue.

Virginia is the latest US port to introduce appointment systems for truckers as marine terminals try to better handle the import surges caused by mega-ship calls.

The expansion of marine terminals, construction of a Cool Port and a Seaport Logistics Complex assure BCOs that Oakland not only has the physical capacity, but also the support structures needed to enhance cargo velocity, the port director said.

Beaumont, 90 miles east of Houston, is not a container port but instead has a diversified base of breakbulk cargo that includes projects, military cargo, wind energy, steel, forest products, bagged goods, and dry and liquid bulk cargo.

The new container service will be Pensacola’s first. World Direct said the port near the tip of Florida’s panhandle will complement the carrier’s current calls at Port Manatee.

Port CEO John Murray said the new berth is needed not only for aerospace modules but for shipments resulting from Central Florida’s growth.

The work, designed to maximize cargo handling space, will be funded by $14 million in local funds and a $10 million TIGER grant from the US Department of Transportation.

Officials say the technology will also help create more trucker dual transactions.

BCOs calling at the largest US port complex want predictability, reliability, and velocity, and the port directors said those goals can be achieved only through technology and process improvements.

In an up-and-down market for breakbulk shipments, Pacific Northwest ports have seen strong volumes in several categories.

A downriver site on the Mississippi River would provide expansion capacity and no bridge restrictions.

Waterfront officials are suing to stop New Jersey's governor from enforcing a law enacted Monday that would terminate an agreement giving the Waterfront Commission the power to do background checks and criminal investigations at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

ILA and USMX officials had hoped to agree on a contract extension that would reassure the hundreds of shippers who will attend the JOC’s annual Trans-Pacific Maritime (TPM) conference March 4-7 in Long Beach, California.

The Port of Oakland is urging truckers to apply for roughly $65 million in state funding to update their trucks.

The port said container dwell times are down to an average of three days, and a return to its historical level is imminent.

On a percentage basis, 2017 was one of the strongest increases registered since the end of the Great Recession.

New York is mulling a plan to move the smallest terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey away from a heavily populated area near downtown Brooklyn.

As the Port of New York and New Jersey passes the first year anniversary of its first appointment system, two other terminals are close to implementing systems.

New Jersey's new governor is a big union supporter, which could help the ILA in its fight against the Waterfront Commission.

In addition to containerized cargo, Boeing uses the port for breakbulk shipments — including oversized shipments for several well-known planes.

Building predictive analytics into an appointment system that must process up to 60,000 truck moves per day in load center ports is a tentative process that involves trial and error, and, increasingly, further advances in technology.

The prohibition of engines dated 1994 or 1995, replaced a proposal that — until it was pulled two years ago — would have banned more than 4,000 trucks with engines dated 2007 or older.

In container shipping, a 'black hole' exists in the supply chain, according to a logistics pro. However, a port information portal used in a pilot project by the Port of Los Angeles is providing more visibility.

In the battle for Asia imports among US coasts, "those with capacity, including terminal, supply-chain and network capacity, are going win," according to a port executive director.

The venture's partners hope to achieve a gray pool with “interoperability” that improves equipment utilization and allows a trucker to use any chassis between any start and stop location in the port area.

The Port of Mobile is uptrending — this year it passed New Orleans to become the Gulf Coast's second-busiest container port in laden import containers.

“The question is how to pay for them.”

Seacor hopes to add second weekly sailing to funnel resin exports to New Orleans.

Concerning automation and related technological changes, even moderate productivity gains, combined with reliability and low labor costs, can be very appealing, says a marine engineer/port planner.

John LaRue headed the Corpus Christi port for 23 years; he will stay on as an adviser until he retires in June 2019.

Several port authorities told JOC’s Port Performance North America Conference on Wednesday that they take the threat very seriously.

Petrochemical producers have invested tens of billions of dollars into Gulf Coast plants that are starting to enter production and that are expected to substantially boost annual US resin exports.

Pacific Maritime Association president Jim McKenna said there is a realization among the ILWU leadership and rank and file that, “The perception of the ports, the credibility of the ports, means jobs.”

In addition to making life easier for port users regarding day-to-day operations information, the portal is also targeting predictive capabilities to enable the better allocation of resources and assets.

As vessels get bigger and cost reduction is increasingly a priority to carriers, terminal operators will be under growing pressure to make better use of the resources they have, a key global operations professional told JOC’s Port Performance North America Conference on Tuesday.

Wilmington is the first to be able to accept goods that are still midway through the refrigeration process.

US import growth is expected to slow in 2018, after an impressive increase in 2017, but the National Retail Federation adds that a recession is not on the horizon.