North American ports

Although the port is losing some intermodal service to the Midwest, demand is surging to core inland cities within the Southeast US.

The railroads say more vessels calling Houston translates into heavier volumes that will help intermodal services from the port gain traction this time.

The capacity reinstatement is also a boon for Indian shippers facing intermittent void calls and longer transits as they try to maximize exports ahead of the current fiscal year closing on March 31.

Even as the industry seemingly adjusts to the new status quo of routing ships around southern Africa, there are significant — yet less apparent — changes afoot in container shipping, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

APM Terminals will make more slots available for retrieving import containers at its Port Elizabeth site as truckers say delays in booking appointments are worsening.

The Port of Jacksonville said the first ship on the newly combined trans-Atlantic and north-south service from Mediterranean Shipping Co. called the port this month.

Both sides say cargo is leaving Montreal due to the inability to reach a new contract deal with the port’s main longshore union.

Under final guidelines for detention and demurrage billing, only the shipper or consignee can be on the hook for such charges and bills must be sent within 30 days.

Railroad officials informed Georgia and South Carolina port authorities earlier this week, giving them a one-month notice that service will no longer be offered to Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville.

Along with new funding for the domestic manufacturing of container cranes, the Biden Administration has given the US Coast Guard more power to monitor cyberattacks on port and maritime infrastructure.

The change in policy for so-called earliest receiving dates was due to go into effect March 1, but exporters asked the Georgia Ports Authority for more time to adjust their warehouse operations.

The fourth consecutive month of year-over-year growth in US imports from Asia might be a sign the world’s busiest trade lane has turned the corner after a lackluster 2023 in which imports declined about 13%.

The decision to not hear the appeal leaves intact a ruling that allows the International Longshoremen’s Association to sue ocean carriers that use the Leatherman terminal, an apparent blow to the so-called “hybrid” labor model used in Charleston.

The operator of Oakland’s largest container terminal said it will take about two weeks to clear the vessel backlog at Oakland International Container Terminal.

The new partnership with Wan Hai comes as ONE — along with Yang Ming and HMM — faces the loss of THE Alliance partner Hapag-Lloyd, which is leaving the vessel-sharing agreement for a new partnership with Maersk.

The first shipments of hay were loaded into Evergreen containers at the inland hub and moved by Union Pacific to the Pierce County Terminal in Tacoma for shipment to China.

The long-awaited decision also seemingly puts to rest the question as to whether the FMC has authority on issues that extend beyond US ports.

Stephen Hennessey joined PMA in 2004 after holding management positions in the shipping and trucking industries, including with Sea-Land Service, Roadway Express and Horizon Lines.

The carrier is looking to take part in the trade growth the US Gulf is enjoying with South America’s largest economies that consume heavy quantities of US petrochemicals.

The Global Port Tracker calls for a year-over-year gain of 5.3% in US imports over the first six months of the year despite the uncertain security situation in the Red Sea.

The International Longshoremen’s Association’s May 17 deadline will provide an almost five-month window for the union to wrap up talks on a master contract covering the East and Gulf coasts.

The Port of Mobile is looking to boost intrastate rail service with a new intermodal ramp that would give shippers an alternative to using rail from major Southeast ports.

The Port of Virginia has handled very few food products coming from or moving to South America, but the new services could bring Norfolk closer to its competitors on the East Coast.

A price correction was not entirely unexpected, but carrier sources believe that rates could move up again next month due to the fiscal year-end shipping rush.

Though talks have seemingly been on hold, Maher Terminals’ Gary Cross said he has “no doubt” the longshore union and port employers along the East and Gulf coasts will reach a new agreement before the existing deal expires.

The deal ends a more than decade-long case that involved claims that terminal operator ICTSI Oregon incurred damages when ILWU Local 8 engaged in unlawful work practices and slowdowns from 2012 to 2017 at Terminal 6 in Portland.

With existing capacity utilization at 70%, Los Angeles and Long Beach have probably delayed until the early 2030s the likelihood of experiencing pandemic-era congestion again, according to marine terminal engineers.

US retailers and others will reduce their exposure to China as they can, chasing cheaper labor while also hedging the risk associated with relying on one origin for key goods and items.

Ocean carriers are not able to honor roughly 25% of their planned loads on available US East Coast weekly sailings out of Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports, local sources say.

While off-schedule ships are periodically crowding marine terminals, the port is not seeing any major impact from the longer transits as vessels reroute around southern Africa, Bethann Rooney said.

China commanded 47% of the inbound container volumes to the US as recently as 2018, but rising geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington and a post-COVID shift in manufacturing momentum to Southeast Asia have cut into China’s dominance.

While a resumption of Suez Canal transits would be welcomed, ports and inland infrastructure in Europe, the Mediterranean and along the US East Coast could be overloaded with cargo when carriers revert to traditional routings, warns Lars Jensen.

Liners are attempting to capitalize on tight vessel space at Asian load ports as well as the uncertainty over how long they will be forced to divert all-water services to the US East Coast around the southern tip of Africa.

The service cuts could be seen as a step backward for the carrier after it significantly consolidated its ocean reach out of India in recent years to tap a promising trade outlook as the emerging economy expands.

The carrier is boosting its trans-Pacific portfolio with an additional express service to Vancouver that is separate from its slot-sharing arrangement with MSC.

Maersk said four US East Coast services jointly operated with MSC will continue to forgo Suez Canal transits as the security risk in the Red Sea “remains at a significant level.”

The port, mostly limited to handling Panamax-size ships due to air draft restrictions, is looking to join its Gulf Coast peers in handling post-Panamax ships as early as 2025.

Under a $136 million multi-year lease with Jaxport, Enstructure will also develop 200,000 square feet of on-terminal warehousing that’s expected to increase the port’s non-containerized cargo by 20%.

While US ports should be able to handle the expected modest growth in Asian imports this year, those expectations could get tossed aside if existing issues involving the Panama and Suez canals force retailers to shift a sizeable portion of discretionary cargo to West Coast gateways.

A second service from Dole will deploy two 1,200-FEU container vessels that will call in Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala.