North American ports

U.S. importers are rapidly moving more containers through Port Metro Vancouver and to Chicago and the upper Midwest, dealing another blow to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.

Molly Campbell, former deputy executive director at the Port of Los Angeles, has been chosen to succeed Richard Larrabee, who is retiring after 15 years as director of the port commerce at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The South Carolina Ports Authority handled record container volume in May and approved $165.5 million in capital spending on new and expanded facilities during its fiscal year that begins July 1.

The Port of Long Beach in May recorded its busiest month since October 2007, indicating that cargo volumes are returning to pre-recession levels and the worst effects of the labor disruptions this past year are over.

APM Terminals will add two super-post-Panamax cranes at its terminal at the Port of Mobile, Alabama, and expand the port’s container terminal by 20 acres.

The Port of Virginia and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have signed an agreement to share the cost to study the feasibility of deepening Hampton Roads port channels to as much as 55 feet.

Container volume at the Port of Los Angeles edged up 0.8 percent in May as the largest U.S. port looks for direction following a lengthy period of congestion and labor issues over the past year.

The Port of Oakland in May had its busiest month in almost four years, handling 213,260 20-foot-equivalent container units and sign that operations have returned to normal after months of congestion. The total volume of import, export and empty containers was up 3.8 percent from May 2014.

Just two months after the Port of Virginia’s container volumes broke their all-time high, they did it again — the latest sign that cargo diversions from a still-recovering U.S. West Coast may have more staying power than originally imagined.

After the eight months of West Coast port congestion that crimped U.S. shippers’ supply chains, 43 percent of surveyed shippers who have negotiated annual trans-Pacific contracts said they will shift shipments to East Coast ports. But of those shippers who told JOC.com they would reroute cargo away from the West Coast, half said less than 5 percent of that freight would be permanently diverted through new contracts for 2015-2016.

U.S. Gulf ports’ container traffic started strong in 2015, with more than a little help from slowdowns and congestion that hobbled West Coast ports and made shippers look for alternatives.

Port Canaveral opens its first container terminal. CEO John Walsh says volume at the Florida port could eventually grow to 3 million to 4 million TEUs

The new workers are expected to be hired and trained in time to help handle the annual import peak season in late summer and early fall, said John Nardi, president of the New York Shipping Association.

An effort to create a “gray” pool of freely interchangeable chassis in the Port of New York and New Jersey appears unlikely to meet a July 1 launch target.

The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a $1.001 billion fiscal year 2015-16 budget that includes expenditures of $198.8 million for capital improvements.

U.S. containerized imports are forecast to rise 5.4 percent year-over-year in the second half of the year after inbound volume at the major gateways for retail goods hit normal levels in April, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker.

Carlos Buqueras says Port Manatee on Tampa Bay reminds him of Port Everglades, Florida, more than 20 years ago. Buqueras, port executive director, said the port is poised to take advantage of its location, deep channel and undeveloped property.

Appointment systems to meter the flow of trucks are an increasingly popular topic among container terminals. The Port of New Orleans has a head start of more than a decade.

In what is potentially the most extensive port collaboration effort to date in the U.S, harbor commissioners from Seattle and Tacoma voted Friday to submit their final agreement on the Northwest Seaport Alliance for Federal Maritime Commission approval.

For the first time on record, U.S. East Coast ports handled more loaded containers in the first three months of the year than their West Coast counterparts, demonstrating the profound and lingering shift in trade during and now in the wake of the West Coast labor crisis.

Operations at the Port of Houston were largely unfazed — though officials are investigating some damage to equipment — after the torrential rain and flooding that swept through Texas last week.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved an $829 million budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, which includes $555 million for port expansion and improvement projects.

Uncertainties over implementation of the contract are bound to occur in the weeks ahead at all West Coast ports until the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association provide clarity on important provisions in the contract covering work rules and related issues such as mandatory dockworker inspections of chassis at marine terminals.

Shipping lines and terminal operators at California’s major ports urged the state Air Resources Board to change the way that regulators look at goods movement before finalizing its Sustainable Freight Strategy that will govern emissions from vessels, trucks and trains over the next 35 years.

The Port of Miami posted double-digit container volume growth for the second consecutive month in April, another potential sign of the staying power of cargo diversions from the U.S. West Coast, now months after the congestion crisis has ended.

Container traffic through the Port of Baltimore in April fell 8.8 percent year-over-year after a record March, Maryland Port Administration statistics show.

After a double-digit gain in refrigerated container volume in the first quarter, the Port of Philadelphia is set to gain even more reefer traffic as a result of two new services to Latin America and possibly grab more U.S. East Coast market share.

John DiBernardo, vice president of SSA Marine, is a dedicated terminal operator, but he cuts no slack for any operator that is struggling to handle today’s mega-ships.

If marine terminal operators had their way, the days of individual truckers entering their facilities in search of specific containers would be over, replaced by a model in which containers are peeled off the top of a stack and delivered to truckers without regard to consignee or destination.

Now that the West Coast’s labor problems are behind them, longshoremen and employers must focus on the real chokepoint in marine terminal operations — the container yard, the president of the largest International Longshore and Warehouse Union local said Thursday.

The Port of Savannah is ramping up its refrigerated cargo capacity after substantial year-over-year growth in reefer cargo at the Georgia port.

The Port of Houston’s loaded container volumes jumped 46 percent in April, boosted by cargo diversions from the U.S. West Coast that appear to have had more staying power than some originally anticipated.

Demurrage and per-diem detention fees at gridlocked U.S. ports have turned into a multimillion-dollar hot potato. Cargo interests, truckers, ocean carriers and marine terminals are locked in noisy, seemingly nonstop argument over responsibility for the fees. It’s a complex problem with no easy solution — but plenty of finger-pointing.

With no clear path to prevent a recurrence of the crippling, nearly yearlong disruption visited upon West Coast ports and, as of this writing, no final ratification of a new contract by West Coast dockworkers, shippers are exercising their right of free choice and walking away.

Marine terminal operators, warehouses and truck facilities in California could be called upon to manage harmful emissions under the California Air Resources Board’s proposed Sustainable Freight Plan, according to a shipping industry representative.

In an attempt to ensure sufficient availability of chassis during the summer-fall peak-shipping season, the Port of Long Beach Thursday will meet with potential bidders interested in managing a peak chassis fleet.

Container traffic in Seattle-Tacoma returned to normal in April as the vessel and container backlogs that had developed over four months of labor slowdowns dissipated.

With diversions continuing in the aftermath of the West Coast labor negotiations, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach turned in a mediocre performance in April, with total container volume edging up 1 percent from April 2014. This compares against much faster growth at East and Gulf coast ports in April and year to date.

The delivering system for moving containers from mega-ships operated by carrier alliances to cargo interests and truckers is antiquated and must change immediately if ports are to conquer their congestion problems, according to John McLaurin, president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.